Lesbian Beats Cincinnati Archdiocese in Court

By Bridgette P. Lavictoire
Lez Get Real
June 4, 2013

http://lezgetreal.com/2013/06/lesbian-beats-cincinnati-archdiocese-in-court/


[with video]

The Catholic Church isn’t going to be too happy with this verdict. US District Court Judge Susan Dlott has ordered that the Archdiocese of Cincinnati must pay Christa Dias some $171,000 after they fired the unmarried teacher for becoming pregnant by artificial insemination. The jury ruled in favor of the fired teacher.

Dias, who is lesbian and not Catholic, said after the verdict “I was relieved. It’s been a very, very long road. Now, I can go on with my life.”

The thirty-four year old was a computer teacher at Holy Family and St. Lawrence schools, both run by the archdiocese. Back in 2010, she informed officials that she needed maternity leave, which was surprising to officials since Dias is single and the Catholic Church frowns upon unwed mothers. The method by which she got pregnant is also forbidden under Church teaching.

The archdiocese argued that she had violated her employment contract which required her to live within the teaching of the Catholic Church. Dias countered that she was not a “ministerial employee” and did not teach religion or Catholicism. The contract did not exactly specify that she be Catholic, but did specify that she be Christian and follow the Bible. The archdiocese apparently forgot that there are different interpretations of the Bible across different forms of Christianity.

Another issue that Dias raised was the fact that the contract was not applied equally as she knew of at least one male employee who’s wife got pregnant via artificial insemination.

While neither Dias nor the archdiocese claim that she was fired for being lesbian; however, Goodin tried to bring that up claiming that her decision to not disclose her sexuality meant that she never intended to live according to the contract.

The jury of five women and three men agreed with her after deliberating for just eight hours.

While the jury did find against the archdiocese, they did not find against the two schools. While they were named in the suit, Dias’ attorney, Robert Klingler, told jurors that Dias did not want the schools to suffer since it was not exactly their fault because the archdiocese required that they fire her.

Dias said about the archdiocese that “What they did was against the law. Employers still have to follow the law no matter what.”

Last August, the archdiocese changed their contracts in order to specify who is a ministerial employee. Still, churches and schools across the nation have been in touch with archdiocese attorney Steve Goodin to find out how they should change their contracts. Still, Goodin claims that he does not believe that the verdict will have far-reaching implications.

Dias’ lawyers are not quite so sure of that. Klingler stated “For non-ministerial employees, it means that juries are willing to apply the law even to church organizations. The archdiocese should have known it shouldn’t have done what it did.” The verdict could end up having an impact in the upcoming case involving a lesbian fired from her job as a gym teacher for being lesbian.

Goodin is not sure if the archdiocese will appeal.

Dias moved away from Cincinnati and now lives in Atlanta with her partner and their two-year-old daughter.