This PA Senator wants it illegal for Catholic schools to require teachers to follow Catholic teaching

Sep 15, 2015 | 5 comments

The administration of Holy Ghost Prep, a Catholic high school in the Philadelphia suburbs, knew that foreign language teacher Michael Griffin lived with his same-sex partner.  Even though teachers’ contracts include a clause about following the teachings of the Catholic Church, it’s not uncommon for schools to look the other way so long as the teacher’s dissent is relatively private.

But then, after marriage was redefined by courts in New Jersey, Griffin told the headmaster that he and his partner were going to get a marriage license.  Whereas his partnership had been reasonably private, marriage is a distinctly public act.  More specifically, a same-sex marriage is a public act that directly and brazenly undermines Catholic teaching—and this was unacceptable for a teacher in a Catholic school. And so Griffin was fired.

Is it Fair Meme Holy Ghost Prep textThe vengeful response from LGBT advocates boiled down to this: No school (or any institution for that matter) should be permitted to be organized around values different from their own.  There can be no dissent from LGBT movement orthodoxy.  As Equal Employment Opportunity Commission member Chai Feldblum, an Obama appointee, put it: When sexual and religious liberty conflict, “I’m having a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win.”

This is the same position held by sponsor* of Senate Bill 974, Sen. Daylin Leach of Montgomery County.  In fact, Leach sees SB 974 (and its predecessor, SB 300) as the way to put that idea into law.  When asked about Holy Ghost Prep, Leach said that such employment decisions would be illegal if this bill were enacted.

There’s nothing fair about forcing religious schools to abandon the values that make them distinctive.  Please contact your representative and senator and tell them that the “Fairness Act”—HB 1510 and SB 974—would make Pennsylvania less free, less tolerant, and less fair.

KEEP PA FAIR Oppose the so-called “Fairness” Act

Take Action: tinyurl.com/standfortruefairness 

 *Update: When first published it incorrectly listed Sen. Daylin Leach as “prime sponsor” of this legislation. He is a sponsor of SB 974.