Teachers: Church fired us for being gay
In the latest skirmish between advocates of gay rights and religious liberty, two preschool teachers in Orange County contend they were fired from a church-run daycare center because they are gay.
Jaclyn Pfeiffer and Kelly Bardier say they were terminated from their jobs at Aloma Methodist Early Childhood Learning Center after school director Barbara Twachtman asked Pfeiffer if she was involved with Bardier. When she said she was, the women were dismissed from their jobs, Pfeiffer said.
“I said, ‘Can I get fired for this?’ She said, ‘Yes,’ and I was surprised,” Pfeiffer said Thursday.
Defenders of the school, which is run by Aloma United Methodist Church, argue that religious organizations have the right to dismiss employees who violate their religious doctrines. That right is protected by the First Amendment’s free exercise of religion clause, said Mat Staver, whose Orlando-based Liberty Counsel has represented Christian organizations opposed to gay rights.
“This is the inevitable conflict that will continue to escalate when you elevate same-sex rights to a protected status,” he said.
The clash between the church school and the gay couple is a
small-scale version of the full-blown battles that engulfed Indiana and Arkansas over their controversial Religious Freedom Restoration laws that were viewed as anti-gay.
In Orlando, the attorney for Pfeiffer and Bardier says that their firing in March violates Orange County’s Human Rights Ordinance, which prohibits discrimination against gays.
“The Orange County ordinance says you cannot discriminate against an individual based on their sexual orientation,” said attorney Mary Meeks, who helped write the ordinance.
“You can’t fire them or refuse to hire them.”
There are some exemptions for religious organizations within the ordinance, Meeks said, but it is does not let them discriminate based on race, sex, religion or sexual orientation.
While the day-care center has a Winter Park address at 3045 Aloma Ave., it is outside Winter Park city limits and could be subject to the Orange County ordinance.
Neither the school nor the church responded to requests for comment, but the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church in Lakeland issued a statement that said the school’s actions were based on “long standing policies intended to the reflect the beliefs and values of this congregation. These are policies applicable to all employees.”
But Meeks contends that the Aloma preschool cannot use religious doctrine as a justification for dismissal of the teachers because the United Methodist Church opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation. A resolution passed in 2008 states that the church opposes “all forms of violence or discrimination based on gender, gender identity, sexual practice or sexual orientation.”
In response, a spokeswoman for the Florida Conference UMC pointed out a 2012 provision in the church’s Book of Discipline that states, “The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.”
Pfeiffer, 29, worked at the Aloma Methodist day care for about a year and a half, caring mostly for 2-year-olds. Bardier, who worked as a substitute teacher for about two months, dealt mostly with 1-year-olds. They’ve been a couple since October.
A day after the women’s dismissal, Twachtman sent parents an email saying that Pfeiffer had left for “personal reasons” and lauded her as a teacher: “Jaci has been a wonderful teacher and I have told her that she is very gifted with children. I am very sad that she is leaving.”
Meeks has sent a letter to the school demanding that her clients’ terminations be rescinded, an apology be made along with letters of recommendations, and the two women be compensated for damages.
If those conditions are not met within a week, Meeks said, she will file a lawsuit under the Orange County ordinance and a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which recently included sexual orientation as being covered under civil rights.
Bardier and Pfeiffer said they were unaware of the school’s stance against employing gays. Bardier said she attends United Methodist churches because they were welcoming and accepting of gays and lesbians.
“The main reason I’ve been going to Methodist churches is they are very open and loving of everyone regardless of who you are,” said Bardier, 33, who works full time as a nurse.
Pfeiffer, who has worked in day care for the past 12 years, has been unemployed since her dismissal in March.