Bryan Fischer of the Christian
conservative American Family Association (AFA) believes a Catholic
high school in Columbus was “absolutely right” in firing a
lesbian teacher.
Carla Hale was terminated last month
from her teaching position at Bishop Watterson High School in
Columbus, Ohio after her employer, the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Columbus, learned she was gay.
Hale, a 19 year health and physical
education teacher at Watterson, was anonymously outed in a letter to
the Diocese in February. The letter included Hale's mother's
obituary, which listed her partner.
The 57-year-old told NPR
affiliate WOSU that she was fired in a letter from the Columbus
Diocese signed and delivered by Principal Marian Hutson.
Hale said that the Diocese fired her
for violating moral law.
On his AFA-sponsored Focal Point
radio show, Fischer agreed with the school's decision.
“The school discriminated against
this teacher, yes they absolutely did and they should have,”
Fischer
told listeners. “They were absolutely right to do it. … It
is right to discriminate against people who engage in aberrant sexual
behavior.”
“We should discriminate against
people like that,” he added. “We discriminate against
shoplifters.” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
On Wednesday, Hale announced that she
would file a complaint against the Diocese alleging it violated the
city's ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.