A teacher at a Roman Catholic school in
Little Rock, Arkansas was reportedly fired after she married her
female partner of 14 years.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate,
will hold a press conference in Little Rock on Tuesday to discuss the
firing.
Shortly after Tippi McCullough and Barb
Mariani tied the knot in New Mexico, McCullough, who has taught
English at Mount St. Mary Academy for 15 years, received a phone call
from the school principal, who reportedly offered McCullough the
option of resigning her post or be fired.
According
to Griffin, McCullough resigned.
Karen Flake, president and CEO of Mount
St. Mary Academy, strongly suggested in a statement given to CBS
affiliate THV11
that McCullough had indeed been terminated over her marital status.
“Out of respect for the privacy
interests surrounding our personnel, we cannot discuss details about
confidential personnel matters unless the employee gives us
permission to discuss these matters,” Flake said. “Given that we
are a Catholic school, we adhere to the teachings of the Catholic
Church and have a responsibility to provide a solid Catholic
formation for our students. Sometimes adherence to these teachings
may be difficult and/or unpopular. However, our mission and core
values as a Catholic school require that our actions be aligned with
what we believe and teach.”
HRC
has launched a petition calling on the school “to commit to
ending discrimination against the school's LGBT employees and to
apologize for the way Tippi was treated.”