CHARLOTTE — A former substitute teacher is suing the Diocese of Charlotte, the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools system, and Charlotte Catholic High School, claiming that his civil rights were violated when the high school decided to stop calling him for substitute teaching work.
Lonnie H. Billard, a retired drama teacher at the high school, claims in a federal lawsuit that he was removed from the school’s list of substitute teachers in late 2014 after he announced plans to marry his male partner.
The federal lawsuit argues that the school’s decision violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin and religion.
The lawsuit was filed Jan. 11 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina on Billard’s behalf by the North Carolina affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Charlotte-based law firm Tin Fulton Walker & Owen. It contends that Billard was unlawfully discriminated against because of his sexual orientation, his intended same-sex marriage, and “because he does not conform to sex-based stereotypes associated with men in our society.”
In a statement issued Jan. 11, Billard’s attorney said the school’s action was discriminatory. “Lonnie was fired because he announced his marriage to his longtime partner, who is a man, and that is sex discrimination, pure and simple,” said Chris Brook, legal director for the ACLU of North Carolina.
According to the lawsuit, Billard is asking for an unspecified amount of back pay and benefits, compensation for “emotional distress,” punitive damages, and an order blocking the diocese and its school system from “further discriminatory conduct.”
“The Diocese of Charlotte does not typically discuss ongoing litigation,” David Hains, diocesan communication director, said Jan. 13.
Billard retired after 11 years from his teaching job at Charlotte Catholic High School in 2012, not long after he was named Teacher of the Year.
He continued working at the high school as an occasional substitute teacher for the next two years, for a total of about 36 weeks, according to the lawsuit.
In October 2014, Billard announced on Facebook that he and his male partner were planning to get married the next May.
All employees of the diocese agree upon their employment to follow the diocese’s ethics policy and a personnel policy that requires them to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Catholic teaching holds that marriage can only be the union of one man and one woman.
According to the diocese’s human resources office, substitute teachers are classified as temporary employees. They have no benefits but they are subject to the same policies as other employees.
Billard’s lawsuit comes after he was unsuccessful in pursuing a discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May 2015.
The EEOC investigated the complaint but decided not to pursue the case.
At Billard’s request in November 2016, the EEOC gave him a “notice of right to sue,” telling Billard that he had the right to file a lawsuit in federal court, but only within the next 90 days.
— Catholic News Herald
Charlotte Catholic: Retired teacher can't work now as substitute after he announces gay 'marriage' plans
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Charlotte Catholic: Retired teacher can't work now as substitute after he announces gay 'marriage' plans
Published: 1-9-2015
CHARLOTTE — A retired dramatics teacher at Charlotte Catholic High School has been told he cannot work as a substitute teacher at the school after he publicly announced he is planning to marry his same-sex partner later this year.
Lonnie H. Billard, who had signed up to be a substitute teacher at the high school and was scheduled to teach during January, wrote on his Facebook page that he and his gay partner were planning to marry in the summer of 2015, according to Diocese of Charlotte spokesman David Hains.
According to Hains, as soon as Charlotte Catholic High School officials learned of his announcement, they informed him he could not work as a substitute teacher because of his public opposition to Catholic teaching.
All employees of the diocese agree upon their employment to follow the diocese's ethics policy and a personnel policy that requires them to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
According to the diocesan human resources office, substitute teachers are classified as temporary employees. They have no benefits but they are subject to the same policies as other employees.
"People who work for the Diocese of Charlotte agree that they will not oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church. We cannot and will not employ a substitute teacher who opposes Church teaching," Hains said in a Jan. 9 statement.
The diocese does not typically comment on personnel matters, but diocesan officials decided to comment in this case after Charlotte area media reported on Billard's termination. School and diocesan schools office officials directed all inquiries to Hains.
Billard retired after 11 years from his teaching job at Charlotte Catholic High, the largest of the diocese's three high schools, in 2012.
In 2012, a St. Gabriel Parish music director was fired by the pastor for a similar violation of the diocese's employee ethics policy. Steav Congdon, the leader of the music ministry at St. Gabriel Parish, traveled to New York, where gay "marriage" was legal, to marry his same-sex partner – a public act that is in disobedience to Church teaching and which violates the diocese's employee ethics policy.
Also in 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in EEOC v. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School that religious groups should be free from government interference when they choose their employees – a rule known as the "ministerial exception" – in accordance with the U.S. Constitution's protection for freedom of religion.
The Church teaches that marriage can only be the union between one man and one woman, as established in natural law and set forth as a sacrament by Christ and His Church. Catholic teaching emphasizes that all people, including those with a homosexual orientation, are made in the image of God and therefore deserving of dignity and respect, but that matrimony is designed by God as the basis for family life and the conceiving and nurturing of children.
— Catholic News Herald