Fontbonne Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, had offered Matthew Barrett a position as its food services director back in 2013, but soon retracted it after learning that Barrett is gay.
Barrett had listed his husband on an emergency contacts form.
In what Barrett’s lawyers say is a legal first, a judge ruled against Fontbonne, saying it had discriminated against the plaintiff.
“It is the first reported case with regards to a religious institution,” said Brian D. Spitz, an employment lawyer in Ohio whose firm represents clients from the LGBTQ community.
“Sexual orientation is a protected class deserving of the same level of protection as other protected classes,” Spitz said. “If the Fontbonne Academy argued that it was against their religious tenets to hire a woman or a black person, their arguments would be ridiculed as absurd at first look.”
In his ruling, Judge Douglas H. Wilkins rejected the three defenses the school offered.
“Fontbonne’s discrimination ‘because of’ Barrett’s same-sex marriage is undisputed and, as shown above, amounts to discriminatory intent as a matter of law,” Wilkins wrote.
“It is clear that, because he is male, he suffered gender discrimination when he was denied employment for marrying a person whom a female could have married without suffering the same consequences.”
Wilkins said the school could only claim a religious exemption if “it limited ‘membership, enrollment, or participation’ to members of one religion.” But it doesn’t – it is open to all students and employees no matter their faith. The only exceptions are school administration, theology faculty, and ministry staff.
Further, Barrett’s position in food service is not one in which he would be able to “dilute” the school’s “mission and message.”
The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts said Judge Wilkins’ ruling is “a frontal assault on religious freedom” and “an appalling subordination of the First Amendment to the Massachusetts gay rights law.”
Fontbonne said late last week that “it is considering its options.”
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