An LGBTQ guidance counselor who was fired from a school in Indianapolis in Aug. 2018 because of her sexual orientation, has filed a lawsuit against the Roncalli High School and the state’s Archdiocese.
In the suit, filed Monday in federal court, Sally Fitzgerald claims that the she was discriminated because of her sexual orientation.
After working at the school for 15 years —and being with the same partner for over two decades — Fitzgerald was put in administrative leave and ultimately fired, when the school learned she was married to another woman.
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis demanded her firing after a parishioner turned in her marriage certificate to school officials. Schools were required to implement “morality clauses” into employees contracts.
They claimed that, by being in a same-sex relationship, Fitzgerald — who married her wife Victoria in 2014, with whom she raises their 13-year-old daughter — was in violation of her contract.
However, her position as a counselor didn’t classify her as a ministerial employee, as she claims in the lawsuit.
Fitzgerald also alleges that she became a victim of retaliation and subject to a hostile work environment.
After she was fired, a group of students at the school created Shelly’s Voice, an advocacy organization hoping to raise awareness about the type of discrimination that Fitzgerald is facing.
She shared her story with Ellen DeGeneres last month on “Ellen.”
Following the filing of the lawsuit this week, the group launched a fund-raising campaign to help with Fitzgerald’s legal costs. They hope to raise $150,000 by the end of the year.
“Let’s end workplace discrimination so that students, faculty, and staff can focus more on education without the fear of discrimination,” a message in the fundraiser page reads. “Let’s set a legal precedent that prevents other schools from firing valuable educators simply for loving another person.”
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis released a statement stating that “if a school’s leaders reject core aspects of the Catholic faith, it undermines the school’s ability to accomplish its mission,” and it maintains that it is within its constitutional right to “hire leaders who support the schools’ religious mission.”
