The Trump DOJ writes letter supporting firing of gay faculty from schools [View all]

Yesterday, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a “Statement of Interest” letter to a court supporting the Archdiocese of Indiana’s firing of a gay teacher from a Catholic school in July 2019.

While the letter isn’t surprising considering the administration’s support of anti-LGBTQ discrimination under the banner of so-called “religious freedom,” many U.S. Catholic schools are taxpayer-funded, essentially meaning that the U.S. government supports using our money to fund schools and other religious entities that oppress us.

When Cathedral High School discovered that guidance counselor Joshua Payne-Elliott was married to his husband, Layton Payne-Elliott, the local Archdiocese directed the school to fire him, and Payne-Elliott subsequently sued the Archdiocese “alleging it illegally interfered with his contractual and employment relationship,” according to the IndyStar.

However, in the DOJ’s letter to the court, Eric Dreiband, Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, writes, “The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of religious institutions and people to decide what their beliefs are, to teach their faith, and to associate with others who share their faith. The First Amendment rightly protects the free exercise of religion.”

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