A panel of federal appeals court justices ruled in favor of a Catholic school in Charlotte, saying it had the right to fire a teacher after the employee announced his marriage to his longtime partner over a decade ago.
This decision marks a reversal from the 2021 ruling saying Charlotte Catholic High School and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte violated Lonnie Billard’s federal employment protections against sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Billard had announced his marriage to his partner, another man, on social media after same-sex marriage was legalized.
Shortly after Billard’s social media post, he was told by the Diocese and the school he was being fired from his job as a substitute teacher, a role Billard took on after serving as a full-time teacher, a role held for over a decade. The termination was justified by the school and diocese because of Billard’s “advocacy in favor of a position that is opposed to what the church teaches about marriage.”
U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn determined Billard was a lay employee for the limited purpose of teaching secular classes, but Wednesday’s panel saw it differently. Circuit Judge Pamela Harris, who actually wrote the opinion from Wednesday’s case, said Billard fell under a “ministerial exception” to Title VII, which is derived from the First Amendment, regarding religious institutions.
The exception, according to Harris, protects religious institutions’ treatment of employees “who perform tasks so central to their religious missions — even if the tasks themselves do not advertise their religious nature.”
“The record makes clear that (Charlotte Catholic) considered it ‘vital’ to its religious mission that its teachers bring a Catholic perspective to bear on Shakespeare as well as on the Bible,” wrote Harris, a justice nominated by then-President Barack Obama. “Our 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.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a Charlotte law firm on Billard’s side released a statement claiming Wednesday’s reversal was “a heartbreaking decision for our client who wanted nothing more than the freedom to perform his duties as an educator without hiding who he is or who he loves.”
It hasn’t been reported if the complainant will file an appeal, which would head to the U.S. Supreme Court.