US: Lesbian teacher fired by Catholic school for getting pregnant
A teacher has been fired by a Catholic school, because she is expecting a child with her wife.
Barbara Webb, who taught Chemistry and Biology at Marian High School in Michigan, has been married to Kristen Lasecki for six years.
However, when she let her employer know that the pair were expecting a child together in order to arrange maternity leave, she was fired from her job by administrators.
Ms Webb had a “morality clause” in her employment contract, allowing the school to terminate her employment.
She told Fox: “If you publicly had some type of actions that were contradictory to Catholic teachings, then there would be an issue. If you did and it was private, there seemed to be no issue.”
“This is so much more than me or my school, it’s about human rights. It’s a right for a woman to have a child.
“Being pregnant, you can’t hide forever, so I tried to be proactive and professional.
“[They said] my only options were to resign or be terminated.”
Ms Webb refused to resign, adding: “I’m not willingly leaving, so I’m not going to sign somethign that says I was.”
Lisbeth Melendez Rivera of Human Rights Campaign said: “There is a sad and troubling narrative of increasing discrimination by Catholic institutions against LGBT Americans, including and especially those who legally marry or come out.
“These discriminatory actions extend from Oakland to Kansas City to Cincinnati, from Chicago to Atlanta, and are occurring with alarming frequency.”
A Catholic school in Northern Ireland marched in a local Pride parade this week.
Watch a clip below:
