Lawmakers and lawyers have joined the debate after a Roncalli High School guidance counselor was put on paid administrative leave Aug. 12 following the discovery of her same-sex marriage.
Officials at the Catholic school learned that Shelly Fitzgerald had been married to her partner of 22 years since 2014 after a parishioner gave them a copy of her marriage certificate.
Fitzgerald, a Roncalli alumna who has worked at the school as a guidance counselor for 15 years, wrote in a Facebook post that she was told she had three choices after meeting with school administrators: resign, divorce her wife, or “stay quiet” for the rest of the school year and let her contract expire.
The same day, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and Roncalli High School said in a joint statement that “teachers, guidance counselors and administrators are vital ministers” and they “must convey and be supportive of the teachings of the Catholic Church.”
Those teachings include that marriage is between a man and a woman, they said. Her marriage violated her employment contract and she knew that when she signed.
Roncalli students have since conducted demonstrations supporting Fitzgerald, a board member resigned in protest of the school’s decision and a board meeting scheduled for Monday was abruptly postponed. The state legislature also became involved.
State Rep. Dan Forestal, D-Indianapolis, said he planned to introduce legislation during the next legislative session with state Rep. Sean Eberhart, R-Shelbyville, that would deny public money to schools with discriminatory language in their employment policies.
Forestal, a Roncalli graduate, said the bill will likely require the Indiana Department of Education to determine whether schools use discriminatory language in their contracts. Schools that do would become ineligible to participate in the Indiana Choice Scholarships Program, which provides financial aid to families who want to send their children to private school.
State Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, who spearheaded the school choice program, said the issue isn’t black and white.
He said parents should be able to send their children to schools that closely align with their values and keep them out of schools that don’t. Likewise, Behning said, faith-based schools shouldn’t have to check their faith-based values at the door to participate in the program.
Though it will likely be assigned to the House Committee on Education, for which he is chair, Behning said he didn’t know if the bill would go before it.
“I look at every bill individually and consider it on its merits and we’ll make a decision when it gets much closer to session time and after I actually see it,” he said.
There is no more certainty about the employment law involved.
In Indiana, LGBT workers have no statewide protections, save for an executive order that applies to state government jobs.
Two recent federal court decisions make it hard to predict what would happen if a case like Fitzgerald’s went to court, Williams Institute Director of State Policy and Education Initiatives Christy Mallory said.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation, she said, but the U.S. Supreme Court created a “ministerial exemption” in a different ruling that excludes employees with ministerial roles from the protections afforded to other workers.
“Whether the employee holds a ministerial position is a fact-specific inquiry that would have to be decided by a court, but generally, it would cover people whose job is related to carrying out the organization’s religious mission and message,” Mallory said.
Twenty-two states and Washington have employment laws that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Most provide exemptions for religious organizations.
Originally published in Southside Times, 2018. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.