Arkansas - l'enseignante d'une école catholique épouse sa compagne : le directeur la licencie.

Arkansas teacher fired from Catholic school after marrying her partner of 14 years

Teacher Tippi McCullough married her partner in New Mexico, and was told by the principal she should resign or face 'public firing'

A lesbian teacher at an Arkansas Catholic school has been fired after she married her partner of 14 years.

Tippi McCullough, a teacher at Mount St Mary's Academy in Littlerock, Arkansas, had travelled to New Mexico to marry her partner, Barb Mariani.

However, shortly after the ceremony the school's secretary called, telling McCullough she would be fired were she to get married.

A second call soon after came from the school's principal, who upon confirming the couple had married, told McCullough she could resign or be publicly fired.

Mariani said: 'It is impossible to believe that the first call we received after the most joyous occasion of our lives was a vocal pink slip.

'Tippi has been a beloved teacher at Mount St. Mary's for 15 years and it's a sad day when she is fired for doing nothing more than committing to the person she loves – me.'

The school cited a 'morality clause' for McCullough's dismissal. The 'morality clause' includes engaging in premarital sex and supporting abortion.

The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT civil rights organisation, condemned the move, calling it 'explicit and baseless discrimination'.

HRC President Chad Griffin said: 'To fire a beloved teacher simply because she is gay is morally reprehensible.

'At a moment when Pope Francis is urging the Catholic hierarchy to put aside judgement and a decades-long campaign targeting devoted LGBT Catholics, it's shameful that this school is ignoring that hopeful message in favor of explicit and baseless discrimination.'

The school's principal, Diane Wolfe, defended the dismissal, although claimed it wasn't 'just her decision'.

She said: 'It is not for me to decide, judge or disobey the tenets of the church. I was hired to uphold my contractual obligations as a Catholic school administrator and to carry out those functions, as unpleasant as they may be.

'It seems many are quick to judge my actions as my decision and accuse me of cowardice in the performance of what I was hired to do. Do you not think it took moral courage to carry out and uphold the tenets of the church and the directives of those responsible for giving oversight to those tenets?'

- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/arkansas-teacher-fired-catholic-school-after-marrying-her-partner-14-years191013#sthash.vpJ3QbRu.dpuf