By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is suing the Diocese of Brooklyn and demanding that all teacher’s sex lives be investigated after a parochial school teacher in Queens was fired for becoming pregnant out of wedlock.
According to the SunJournal.com, Michelle McCusker, 26, was fired from St. Rose of Lima Catholic school in Queens after telling the principal she was three months pregnant and had no intention of marrying the father.
The principal responded by dismissing her because an unmarried pregnant women is not an appropriate role model for a Catholic school. The teacher’s personnel handbook, which McCusker signed, clearly states that “a teacher is required to convey the teachings of the Catholic faith by his or her words and actions, demonstrating an acceptance of Gospel values and the Christian tradition.”
Because a 1987 the Supreme Court case ruled that nonprofit religious organizations may legally discriminate on religious grounds in hiring, the NYCLU is taking a different angle and alleging that the Church and school violated a federal law banning discrimination against pregnant women. To avoid gender discrimination, the NYCLU says, the school should have to show it is willing to move against unmarried male teachers who impregnate their lovers.
“This is an odd argument for a civil liberties union to make – that to justify firing a pregnant and single employee, a school should make some effort to monitor the sex lives of its male teachers,” writes syndicated columnist John Leo.
”The civil liberties union made a mistake in taking this case, because it is now in the position of arguing that an anti-discrimination law overrides the First Amendment right of free exercise of religion. Among other things, free exercise means that a church has an absolute right to designate those who speak in its name. If it can’t do this, then its religious message is corrupted and the constitutional rights of its members violated.”
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