DOJ Brief Backs Catholic School’s Firing Of Gay Teacher

NBC News reports:

The Trump administration is siding with religious leaders who ordered a Catholic school in Indiana to fire a teacher in a same-sex marriage, saying the church’s actions are protected by the First Amendment.

In a 35-page amicus brief filed on Tuesday, the Department of Justice argued that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis — which fired gay high school teacher Joshua Payne-Elliott last year — is, like other religious employers in the U.S., “entitled to employ in key roles only persons whose beliefs and conduct are consistent” with its “religious precepts.”

In addition, the brief states, the “Constitution bars the government from interfering with the autonomy of religious organizations.” Payne-Elliott’s battle with the Archdiocese of Indianapolis started last spring, two years after he married Layton Payne-Elliott, who teaches at a different Catholic high school in Indianapolis.

The U.S. Department of Justice sides with the Catholic Church in dismissal of a Catholic high school teacher who was fired over his same-sex marriage. https://t.co/iZBdrWBUIK

— Gene Bryant (@GeneBryant2) September 9, 2020

Trump via his agenda-enforcers, the DOJ, endorses religio-discrimination & Christo-bigotry masquerading as “religious freedom.” The ACLU concluded that the Trump’s expansion of religious exemptions are gutting civil rights protections.https://t.co/4q83bcFkEW

— Galen Watson (@galencwatson) September 11, 2020