Mark Zmuda, the former teacher and swim coach at a Seattle-area private school who was fired after publicizing his same-sex marriage, will be able to proceed with his lawsuit against the school, a court ruled this week.
The King County Superior Court of Seattle heard a motion to dismiss Zmuda’s lawsuit, but chose to reject the motion, the National Catholic Reporter reports.
Zmuda’s suit is against both the school that fired him (Eastside Catholic High School) and the archdiocese of Seattle. According the the NCR, the archdiocese has claimed it doesn’t have administrative control of the school, and was not involved in Zmuda’s firing. But documents filed by Zmuda allege that the school had originally told him his same-sex marriage was “none of their [the school’s] business,” and that he was only fired after Archbishop J. Peter Sartain met with school officials. Zmuda’s documents also allege that the firing decision was made by Sartain and not the school itself.
The major point of the case hinges on the exact nature of his position with the school.
Zmuda’s attorneys are arguing that his job as a teacher and swim coach were administrative, and disconnected from any religious activity. The school cites its employee handbook, which emphasizes that all employees are to follow Catholic teaching and doctrine in every aspect of their job. The Catholic Church does not condone same-sex marriage.
This is just one early step in what will almost certainly be a long, appeal-driven legal process, as the case could have major implications on future employment discrimination suits against religious institutions.
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/bishop-michael-barber-a-career-classroom-teacher/
Ironically, holy ****. Did this article ever bring out the Bible-thumpers or what? It scares me that in this day and age, of information, of attempts to try and give equal rights to everyone, that there are still those who cling to the Bible so sadly and desperately that they refuse to see anything beyond their blinders.
Get over yourselves. You people clinging to the ******* “timeless truths” of the Bible, which, for all you know, was written by some damn hobo and managed to get passed down over the centuries.
We even have a commenter up above, “Brian M,” who can’t even acknowledge another poster with respect, even going asofar as to make a quip about his… Read more »
The school did not fire the man because he was gay. The Church does not hate gay people. It accepts and loves all sinners. The issue then is not homosexuality, it is MARRIAGE. Marriage is a sacrament – performed by a priest, between 1 man and 1 woman for life, for the procreation of children – the formation of families for the existence of society. The sacraments cannot be received by those who are in a state of grave sin. Therefore there are many Catholics, with same sex attraction, who choose to live a chaste life in order to remain in a state of grace and be able to receive the sacraments. This is the belief of the Catholic Church.… Read more »
Private schools have better lunches , less violence & better academics . Teachers want to go to one too.
Better lunch = childish. Theology class every day where they teach Catholic faith. Less violence because those who dont follow rules are expelled. Many teachers are paid less than in public school. If you want to stay…same for teachers and students….follow the rules.
You have no sense of the subtle.
Lunches are extremely important to children .Private schools offer a better menu & are not under Michelle Obama’s directives. Interestingly I just now read the menu from the exclusive Sidwell Friends School that is run by The Quakers for the DC elite. ( Sasha is actually named Natasha which begs the question – If Obama had a son he would be called Boris? ) They have a Chef & this week are even having Subway Italian meatballs & ice creme for a kick. This stuff is nowhere near the Quaker philosophy . Next the Amisch will be running Formula One teams.
Try not to attack peope who are making an alternate but… Read more »
If your interpretation of marriage is accepted then a partner in a heterosexual marriage performed by a justice of the peace could be fired. Further, if a marriage was child-less – either by choice or circumstance – then, too, a partner could be fired.
I do wonder how the School Board will defend itself here. Church teachings won’t cut it, I don’t think. And the whole idea of an employment contract is tough, too, because you can’t sign away your rights.
As a point of interest, there is modern precedent for religious doctrine to change when faced with a legal challenge: Back in the early to mid ’70’s, a black person could not be a member of the Mormon Church.… Read more »
A civil union is not recognized as marriage in the Catholic Church, therefore any relations would be viewed by the church as outside of marriage and not appropriate. If your said teacher broadcasts his actions as acceptable and appropriate, he would probably face consequences. If he is quiet, his job is probably ok. Your example of Mormons is not comparable. All are welcome in the Church. Violating a sacrament is different. The Church has not modernized in 2000 years b/c the truth is timeless.
Call me cynical (It’s OK; I am.) but I’d bet that the “timeless truth” of the Catholic Church would be subject to couple revisions if it were told that their tax exempt status was gone because of the way they treated homosexuals.
Ten blocks from where I live is a street that has an evangelical church beside a Buddhist temple that’s right next to a mosque and two doors down from that is a Sikh gurdwara. Six blocks from there is a Catholic Church, an Ukrainian Orthodox Church, synagogue (Reform) and the United Church of Canada. Each and everyone of them claims the “revealed truth” and much of that “revealed truth” is mutually exclusive. Y’all can’t be all right.
My… Read more »
“If your said teacher broadcasts his actions as acceptable and appropriate, he would probably face consequences.”
No they wouldn’t. Not a chance. I’d be shocked if there is one single example of such a thing happening in the past 50 years.
“Immutable” & “timeless”, from a church doctrine perspective, are remarkably fluid when you really take a look at them. Seventy years ago, when my grandparents got married, they couldn’t have a ceremony in a church because he was Catholic and she was Anglican. Such a union was a “sin” and against the teachings of both faiths. Their marriage severely limited – at the time – their social circle and my grandfather’s employment opportunities.
Such a union today doesn’t… Read more »
Oh no the IRA! . Except just now they are under investigation themselves & may be complicit in election manipulation by targeting X groups to financial disadvantage . A possible outcome will be a rehaul of all tax exempt status . Imo church activity would not survive this onslaught .
You may get your wish .
Maybe that should be the IRS . An honest mistake honestly 🙂
Why do people keep saying “outdated doctrine?” Why can’t some people understand that when God says something, it’s final.
Well, God talked to me just today, and said he was ok with gay teachers. What god was talking to you?
If you are referring to the “doctrine” in the old testament, I guess we should kill gay people. And adulterers. And people who work on the Sabbath. These things can never be outdated. The Church now says there is no such thing as Limbo. Funny, that was a doctrine that was taught to me years ago.
Good golly, I better start writing up some doctrines for people to follow thousands of years from now. Hell, they won’t even know who wrote it and claim they can hear me talking in their head!
And no, it’s outdated. Unless you practice misogyny and some of the barbaric ideas the Bible proposes – then yes, it’s outdated. Deal with it.
I am a gay swimmer and a lawyer. And I do not need to tap into either of those identities to have this opinion on this issue: Let them do what they want, and hopefully this coach will find another job. The economics of supply/demand will take care of religious institutions that want to live by outdated doctrine. When people stop showing up to their churches, schools and swim meets, they will figure out how much the Constitution actually did to help them carry out their mission.
It’s nice to see that because of your “identities” you get to summarily dismiss the entire Catholic faith as outdated doctrine. I do not agree with what this institution did, but I respect their ability to make their own rules when within their legal right to do so. We are entering a dangerous point in the history of our Republic, when everyone is expected to think and believe the same thing that everyone else does.
I am not sure why you believe that I summarily dismissed the entire Catholic faith as outdate doctrine. What I intended to express was that the economics of supply/demand will take care of religious institutions that want to live by an outdated doctrine such as the apparent doctrine that an open and proud gay person cannot or should not serve as a teacher and coach. The Catholic Church does many wonderful things. That cannot be dismissed. However, the public’s distaste for men who love men is on the sharp decline, and people will find a place to worship and enact good deeds in an environment where they do not have to disparage gay people along the way. So, to bring… Read more »
And it’s nice to see that no matter what your identity is, Brian M, you’re a dick to people who don’t fit nicely into your little Bible-thumping world.
Have fun hating and dismissing people because of their sexual orientation, clown!
Why is this even a case? He read the employee handbook, and most likely signed it (most employers require new employees to sign the handbook) and then willfully decided to disregard the employee rules and was fired for it. He strikes me as an opportunist looking for a payday.
Brian M – employee contracts cannot necessarily override laws and constitutional rights. You cannot make an employee enforceably sign an agreement that they understand that part of their job is to commit murder, and that if they don’t, they can be fired.
Whether or not this particular handbook or contract or set of policies violate constitutional rights or other laws is what the courts will decide.
This does not answer your implied question of whether Mr. Zmuda will win his suit or not; rather it answers the stated question of “Why is this even a case?”
You present a straw man argument. Employment law through both Washington State and the Federal Government does not include anything to prohibit what this employer did. I am not saying that I necessarily agree with what they did, only that this is a case about grandstanding, not rule of law. A private employer can make religious beliefs a condition of intial and continued employment. Washington State, like most states is an at-will employment state, meaning that either party can terminate employment at any time for any reason, unless it is involving a protected class. There is not a protected class in the scenario, under state or federal law.
Nope, see, this is why I included my last sentence. While you asked “why is this even a case,” what you meant was “I think he should lose this case.” These are not the same two ideas, and I was replying to the matter of “why is this even a case.” If there were no basis for a legal case, then this article would not have been written, because the court would not have approved it as a cse. Whether he wins or loses remains to be seen.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act would be the matter in question. Here’s a link if you would like to read it in its entirety: … Read more »
Braden,
Nope huh? I know you have it all figured out, and that you are seasoned in this area, but let me enlighten you on a couple of things.
1. I am quite familiar with The Civil Rights Act. In fact, the work I do is governed by 13 different Federal Statues, this being one of them. Nowhere in the CRA is what occured to this individial prohibited, otherwise this case would be in Federal Court and and possible EEOC action would be in effect.
2. You are 100% absolutely wrong on at will employment. Don’t believe me? Do some research on your own. An employer can terminate your employment at any time for any reason. Likewise, an employee… Read more »
Brian – to your 2nd point, you basically agreed with me and said I was 100% wrong. It sounds like we are actually in total agreement – that an employer can fire you for any reason in an at-will employment state, except for a reason that’s illegal. Which is precisely what I said in my last reply. And the except for reasons that are illegal is the only reason in any state that you can’t fire someone, the only thing that changes is the definition of what’s legal and illegal, so that’s a self-fulfilling definition.
The fact that people being fired can be illegal is “why this is even a case,” which is what your original question was. Your responses… Read more »
So I am sure that this Catholic school also fires any faculty and staff members who commit adultery, use birth control, don’t attend mass on Sunday, and eat shellfish.
They will be fired too if they make it public and fail to publicly repent. Shellfish are OK.
Shellfish are ok in the Church but not at the yeshiva around the corner!!
I”ll bet you they won’t. As a former Catholic who went to 18 years of Catholic schools, I can attest that the religion is built on hypocrisy. What is happening here is administrators choosing the rules of faith which are convenient in order to discriminate against a class of people they don’t like. How many priests were not fired, but merely moved from diocese to diocese for molesting children?
There are certainly some gay children at this school. Wouldn’t it be great if they had a roll model such as Mr. Zmuda who got married and pledged vows to the person he loves? But the church would rather tell them (and society) that they are worthless individuals. The church… Read more »
Yeah. It is interesting to see how anti-gay some people can be in the name of religion. Again, I attended Catholic school, though not a current practicing Catholic. The Bible cleary states that all people are sinners and that it is a sin to judge others, which seems to missed by many. Furthermore, if you look at the people Jesus hung out with when he was on Earth, it was the people rejected by society, not the self-righteous church goers. I tend to think that today, Jesus would hang out with gay people over judgemental, self righteous “Christians.”
As a former Catholic, I agree with this 100%. The Catholic Church may ultimately win this battle, but they are going to lose the “war” because more and more people will leave the religion. The Church doctrine openly and proudly discriminates against women and gays.
There is a huge difference between public sector and private sector when it comes to discriminatory hiring and firing practices. There is also a large difference between criminal acts (pedophilia) and civil acts (hiring and firing), so that comparison is not valid in one of the previous posts. 🙂
The Catholic church has the right to defend it’s beliefs, whether you (or I) agree with them or not. You have the right not to apply for a job at a catholic school, or to refrain from sending your children there, based on whether you agree with their beliefs.
Here is a good article discussing the ramifications of this type of case (and I think it references this case in… Read more »
Yes, I know there is a difference between this kind of case and “sanctioned” pedophilia. My example was nothing more than an illustration of what kinds of behavior were accepted by the Church for long periods of time. The Church paid civil penalties and individual clergy were prosecuted criminally.
After reading the articles about the case, I wonder what would have happened had the coach been a single gay man, instead of a married gay man, and he had not posted items on FB for everyone to see. It also seems that the school knew or had reason to know that the coach was gay when they hired him. Had they known it then becomes difficult to fire him, unless… Read more »
You need to understand the sin of “scandal” to understand what would make a Catholic organization terminate your employment. The Church recognizes that we are all sinners in need of Christ’s redemption. A public sin (e.g. gay “marriage”) is different. A public sin requires a public repentance for the sin (in this case a gay “divorce”) otherwise it can lead the faithful away from Christ’s teaching.