05-02-2015, 12:36 PM
Religous Freedom Act Protects Anti-gay Policy Towards Teacher in Nebraska
![[Image: -eledge-0105-jpg.jpg]](http://www.ketv.com/image/view/-/32309768/medRes/1/-/maxh/460/maxw/620/-/lrks9d/-/-eledge-0105-jpg.jpg)
^ Matthew Eledge has been a popular English teacher and speech coach at the V.J. and Angela Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha for five years.
After he told some colleagues that he was engaged to his boyfriend, school administrators got word and told him that his contract would not be renewed unless he ended the relationship. Teachers at the school are on year-to-year contracts.
In defending the school's position, Omaha Archdiocese Chancellor Tim McNeil said there have been single, pregnant teachers and those who've divorced and remarried outside the Catholic church who have lost their jobs too.
He also acknowledged that plenty of teachers get away with breaking church tenet, saying the archdiocese essentially has a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. 'Of course there's a lot we don't know,' McNeil said. 'We don't go looking for these situations.'
![[Image: 2838BEF000000578-3032690-image-a-35_1430522684742.jpg]](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/02/00/2838BEF000000578-3032690-image-a-35_1430522684742.jpg)
![[Image: 2838BF0800000578-3032690-image-a-39_1430...1430499966]](http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s500/HairOfTheDog1337/2838BF0800000578-3032690-image-a-39_1430522784124_zpssacj5tl9.jpg?t=1430499966)
^ More than 140 students wore t-shirts supporting Mr Eledge's cause at a school event with dozens of students proudly wearing them. 'We can't force a change, but we can inspire a change,' Skutt student Darya Kaboli-Nejad told KMTV.
Smart girl.
In addition, an on-line petition to bar his firing has accumulated over 95,000 signatures.
Such religious views on homosexuality are fast becoming out-of-step with the views of the general public. Recent studies show that the majority of American Catholics no longer agree with the church's official stance on gay marriage.
The Public Religion Research Institute found that 61 percent of white Catholics and 60 percent of Hispanic Catholics in America support allowing gay and lesbian couples to tie the knot with younger Catholics increasingly in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage.
Asked if he's considering legal action, Eledge said he's only focused on teaching his students for the next six weeks. He has received a number of offers to teach at other schools next year, he said. 'So, maybe it's a blessing in disguise,' he said. 'I just want to teach.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ourse.html
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Personally, I think letting a good committed teacher go because he's gay is asinine and archaic. But, I'm not an old Catholic. And, I don't run the school.
I do believe the private school has a right to let him go (religious freedom law or not). Maybe the students' protests, the online petition, and support from the community and the school's donors can help to save his job. Maybe.
^ Matthew Eledge has been a popular English teacher and speech coach at the V.J. and Angela Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha for five years.
After he told some colleagues that he was engaged to his boyfriend, school administrators got word and told him that his contract would not be renewed unless he ended the relationship. Teachers at the school are on year-to-year contracts.
In defending the school's position, Omaha Archdiocese Chancellor Tim McNeil said there have been single, pregnant teachers and those who've divorced and remarried outside the Catholic church who have lost their jobs too.
He also acknowledged that plenty of teachers get away with breaking church tenet, saying the archdiocese essentially has a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. 'Of course there's a lot we don't know,' McNeil said. 'We don't go looking for these situations.'
^ More than 140 students wore t-shirts supporting Mr Eledge's cause at a school event with dozens of students proudly wearing them. 'We can't force a change, but we can inspire a change,' Skutt student Darya Kaboli-Nejad told KMTV.
Smart girl. In addition, an on-line petition to bar his firing has accumulated over 95,000 signatures.
Such religious views on homosexuality are fast becoming out-of-step with the views of the general public. Recent studies show that the majority of American Catholics no longer agree with the church's official stance on gay marriage.
The Public Religion Research Institute found that 61 percent of white Catholics and 60 percent of Hispanic Catholics in America support allowing gay and lesbian couples to tie the knot with younger Catholics increasingly in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage.
Asked if he's considering legal action, Eledge said he's only focused on teaching his students for the next six weeks. He has received a number of offers to teach at other schools next year, he said. 'So, maybe it's a blessing in disguise,' he said. 'I just want to teach.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ourse.html
========================
Personally, I think letting a good committed teacher go because he's gay is asinine and archaic. But, I'm not an old Catholic. And, I don't run the school.
I do believe the private school has a right to let him go (religious freedom law or not). Maybe the students' protests, the online petition, and support from the community and the school's donors can help to save his job. Maybe.