Charlotte Catholic School’s Firing of Gay Teacher Was Sex Bias

A substitute drama teacher’s job with Charlotte Catholic High School was purely secular and his termination after he married his husband violated federal sex discrimination law, the Western District of North Carolina ruled.

The school, along with co-defendants Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, failed to establish various defenses or exceptions to Lonnie Billard’s suit under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the court said. These included the ministerial exception, which the defendants stipulated didn’t apply to Billard’s case, it said.

The exception, which protects the autonomy of religious organizations when deciding who ...