{"id":2242995,"date":"2024-05-12T16:07:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-12T20:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-rules-catholic-school-can-fire-gay-teacher-for-what-he-did-online\/"},"modified":"2024-05-12T16:09:23","modified_gmt":"2024-05-12T20:09:23","slug":"court-rules-catholic-school-can-fire-gay-teacher-for-what-he-did-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-rules-catholic-school-can-fire-gay-teacher-for-what-he-did-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Court allows Catholic school to dismiss gay teacher for online behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcourt-rules-catholic-school-can-fire-gay-teacher-for-what-he-did-online%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2242995&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>An appeals court upheld\u2062 a Catholic school in North Carolina&#8217;s decision to fire\u2063 a gay teacher who planned to marry another \u200bman.\u2063 The court reversed a prior \u200bruling that\u200c the school violated the teacher&#8217;s \u2063civil rights, citing the \u2063&#8221;ministerial exception&#8221; as\u2062 allowing the school to enforce\u2063 its Catholic \u200dbeliefs. \u2064The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/telemundo-reporter-confirms-alleged-rapist-is-in-domestic-relationship-with-10-year-old-victims-mother\/\" title=\"Telemundo Reporter Confirms: Alleged Rapist Is In \u2018Domestic Relationship\u2019 With 10-Year-Old Victim\u2019s Mother\">case sparked debate<\/a> over religious freedom and employment rights. An appeals court supported a North Carolina Catholic school&#8217;s choice \u200dto dismiss a gay teacher planning to marry another man, \u2064overturning a previous\u200b ruling that deemed it a violation of civil rights. By invoking the &#8220;ministerial exception,&#8221; the school \u200basserted its right to uphold\u2064 Catholic \u200bprinciples. \u2062The case triggered discussions on religious freedom and workplace rights.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<header> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/news\/\">  News <\/a>  <\/p>\n<h2>Court Rules Catholic School Can Fire Gay Teacher for What He Did Online<\/h2>\n<p> <span> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/author\/igcolonel\/\">  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p> <span>   By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/author\/igcolonel\/%20\"><span>Warner Todd Huston<\/span><\/a> <\/span> <span>   May 12, 2024 at 10:53am <\/span> <\/span>  <\/header>\n<section>\n<p>An appeals court has sided with a Catholic school in North Carolina that fired a gay teacher after he announced that he was planning to get married to another man.<\/p>\n<p>The decision by a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, reversed a lower court\u2019s ruling from 2021 that Charlotte Catholic High School and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, Virginia, had violated the teacher\u2019s civil rights, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/north-carolina-catholic-school-fired-gay-teacher-lonnie-billard-wedding-court-ruling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CBS News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The lower court ruled that drama and English teacher Lonnie Billard was improperly released from his job and was a victim of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.<\/p>\n<p>Billard was classified as a \u201clay teacher\u201d at the Catholic school because he did not teach any religious classwork and, starting in 2001, he taught at the school for more than 10 years until his contract was not renewed in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>That final year, in the wake of North Carolina\u2019s legalization of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/47-house-republicans-just-sided-democrats-vote-gay-marriage-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gay marriage<\/a>, Billard had taken to his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sickening-video-shows-antifa-allegedly-stab-4-trump-supporters-in-washington-dc\/\" title=\"Sickening Video Shows Antifa Allegedly Stab 4 Trump Supporters in Washington DC\">social media accounts<\/a> to announce that he was getting married.<\/p>\n<p>In the ruling released Wednesday, the court wrote that Charlotte Catholic \u201ccontested Billard\u2019s claim that it had fired him because of his sex or sexual orientation, arguing that it fired him only because he engaged in \u2018advocacy in favor of a position that is opposed to what the church teaches about marriage.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">A former substitute teacher sued Charlotte Catholic High School and the diocese for not calling him back after he entered a same-sex union <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nNtVLwmSzF\">https:\/\/t.co\/nNtVLwmSzF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Our Sunday Visitor (@OSV) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OSV\/status\/1788646370720563355?\">May 9, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>After Billard was fired, he sued and won his case in a lower court. That luck, though did not hold out during the procedure at the appeals court.<\/p>\n<div id=\"firefly-poll-container\">\n<p>Was this the right decision by the court?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In the appeals court\u2019s ruling,<a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.ca4.167181\/gov.uscourts.ca4.167181.123.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Judge Pamela Harris wrote<\/a> that Billard\u2019s job was not protected by civil rights laws due to the \u201cministerial exception,\u201d which gives more latitude to religious institutions for how they can treat employees \u201cwho perform tasks so central to their religious missions \u2013 even if the tasks themselves do not advertise their religious nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Judge Paul Victor Niemeyer concurred with the Harris opinion. A third judge on the panel agreed with the reversal but disagreed that the case should be decided on the ministerial exception, according to CBS. He wrote that the case fell under a different exception, CBS reported.<\/p>\n<p>Charlotte Catholic does not require all its employees to be Catholic, but it does require them to conform to the school\u2019s Catholic ethos and prohibits them from advocating for things that violate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/thousands-churches-across-us-disaffiliating-major-denomination-heartland-states-seeing-hundreds-go\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">church tenets<\/a>. The school argued that rejecting same-sex marriage is one of those requirements, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/lawandcrime.com\/lgbtq\/teachers-are-different-catholic-school-can-legally-fire-gay-drama-teacher-over-marriage-announcement-court-finds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Law &#038; Crime<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The appeals court ruled that Billard was still considered a \u201cmessenger\u201d of the school\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/fewer-americans-see-sex-relations-morally-acceptable-poll\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">beliefs<\/a>, even though he was a secular man teaching secular subjects.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe record makes clear that (Charlotte Catholic) considered it \u2018vital\u2019 to its religious mission that its teachers bring a Catholic perspective to bear on Shakespeare as well as on the Bible,\u201d Harris, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote in the ruling filed Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur court has recognized before that seemingly secular tasks like the teaching of English and drama may be so imbued with religious significance that they implicate the ministerial exception,\u201d she wrote in another part of the ruling.<\/p>\n<p>A leader of the law firm that represented the Charlotte diocese praised the unanimous decision, saying it is, \u201ca victory for people of all faiths who cherish the freedom to pass on their faith to the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Supreme Court has been crystal clear on this issue: Catholic schools have the freedom to choose teachers who fully support Catholic teaching,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.becketlaw.org\/about-us\/staff\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Luke Goodrich<\/a>, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said in a statement, according to CBS.<\/p>\n<p>The court wrangled with the ministerial exception rule and debated whether or not to allow it to be invoked as a defense for the school. Ultimately, the majority decided it was permissible in this case.<\/p>\n<p>In a separate opinion, Clinton appointee Judge Robert King agreed that Charlotte Catholic had the right to fire Billard, but argued that the case fell under an exception different from what the other two judges cited, Law &#038; Crime explained.<\/p>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, Billard was disappointed with the court\u2019s decision to overturn the lower court\u2019s more favorable ruling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s lots and lots of case law that backs me up. But my biggest feeling is confusion,\u201d he told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/us\/appeals-court-sides-with-catholic-school-that-fired-gay-teacher-for-plans-to-marry-his-partner\/ar-BB1m7BiW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CNN<\/a>. \u201cI just felt you can\u2019t tell people who you can love and who you can marry. That\u2019s not right, you can\u2019t, you shouldn\u2019t be able to fire somebody because they love someone else. And that\u2019s why I went through what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<div>\n<p><b><i>An Important Message from Our Staff:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><i><span>We who work here at The Western Journal have fought for years against Big Tech and the elites who want to shut us down and then shut America down. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>Make no mistake \u2014 nothing will be the same after November 2024. Will you help us fight? Will you <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=BM6XAWRJ8NS7A&#038;utm_source=site&#038;utm_medium=westernjournalism&#038;utm_campaign=authorpitch\"><i><span>help us expose the America-hating elites<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>  who will do everything they can to steal this election? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>We\u2019re a small group of people fighting to save the country for our readers and for our own family and friends. <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=BM6XAWRJ8NS7A&#038;utm_source=site&#038;utm_medium=westernjournalism&#038;utm_campaign=authorpitch\"><i><span>Can we count on your help?<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<p><i><span>At this point, Big Tech has cut off our access to 90% of advertisers. Imagine if someone took 90% of your paycheck and there was nothing you could do. They\u2019re trying to starve us out.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>Donations from readers like you have literally helped keep our lights on, and <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=BM6XAWRJ8NS7A&#038;utm_source=site&#038;utm_medium=westernjournalism&#038;utm_campaign=authorpitch\"><i><span>we need you<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>  now more than ever. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>We operate on a shoestring budget, but with that budget, we terrify the globalists. Please help us continue the fight. <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=BM6XAWRJ8NS7A&#038;utm_source=site&#038;utm_medium=westernjournalism&#038;utm_campaign=authorpitch\"><i><span>Stand with us<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>, and we will never surrender.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>Thank you for reading The Western Journal and for believing in America. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>It is a pleasure to serve you.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/> <i><span>P.S. Please don\u2019t let the America-hating left win. <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=BM6XAWRJ8NS7A&#038;utm_source=site&#038;utm_medium=westernjournalism&#038;utm_campaign=authorpitch\"><i><span>Stand with us today<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>!<\/span><\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"author-info-43\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/author\/igcolonel\/\">  <\/a> <\/p>\n<div>\n<p><label for=\"summary-tab-radio-43\">Summary<\/label><label for=\"more-info-tab-radio-43\">More<span> Biographical Information<\/span><\/label><label for=\"posts-tab-radio-43\">Recent<span> Posts<\/span><\/label><label for=\"contact-tab-radio-43\" onclick=\"if( typeof grecaptcha=='undefined' ) { let cap_s=document.createElement( 'script' ); cap_s.src='https:\/\/www.google.com\/recaptcha\/api.js?render=6LeJFcsUAAAAAPsIEqvB1EebWbZfqRUe6ebMpGy7'; document.body.appendChild( cap_s ); }\">Contact<\/label><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Warner Todd Huston has been writing editorials and news since 2001 but started his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/byron-donalds-takes-shot-at-host-of-the-view-dares-panel-to-invite-him-on-as-a-guest\/\" title=\"Byron Donalds Takes Shot at Host of 'The View,' Dares Panel to Invite Him On as a Guest\">writing career penning articles<\/a> about U.S. history back in the early 1990s. Huston has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN and several local Chicago news programs to discuss the issues of the day. Additionally, he is a regular guest on radio programs from coast to coast. Huston has also been a Breitbart News contributor since 2009. Warner works out of the Chicago area, a place he calls a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-considering-investigations-into-hunter-fauci-and-others-after-midterms\/\" title=\"Republicans Considering Investigations Into Hunter, Fauci and Others After Midterms\">target-rich environment<\/a>&#8221; for political news. Follow him on Truth Social at @WarnerToddHuston.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>  Warner Todd Huston has been writing editorials and news since 2001 but started his writing career penning articles about U.S. history back in the early 1990s. Huston has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN and several local Chicago news programs to discuss the issues of the day. Additionally, he is a regular guest on radio programs from coast to coast. Huston has also been a Breitbart News contributor since 2009. Warner works out of the Chicago area, a place he calls a &#8220;target-rich environment&#8221; for political news. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a recent ruling, an appeals court supported a North Carolina Catholic school&#8217;s decision to terminate a gay teacher who disclosed his intention to marry another man. The court upheld the school&#8217;s right to dismiss the teacher based on his online actions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":2242996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/charlotte-catholic-for-may-12-2024.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2242995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/charlotte-catholic-for-may-12-2024.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2242995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2242996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2242995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2242995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2242995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}