Imagine coming home from the happiest day of your life only to learn that you’ve been terminated from a job you love simply because of who you are. That’s what happened to Jocelyn Morffi.
Jocelyn Morffi was fired from Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School on February 8th, the day after she returned from her wedding to Natasha Hass in the Florida Keys. According to TampaBay.com, parents learned of the firing in a letter they received from the school on Thursday evening, which did not give a reason for the decision. Parents then decided to take to the school to demand a reason from the principal.
“As a teacher in a Catholic school their responsibility is partly for the spiritual growth of the children,” Miami spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta stated in an email to the Washington Post. “One has to understand that in any corporation, institution or organization there are policies and procedures and teachings and traditions that are adhered to. If something along the way does not continue to stay within that contract, then we have no other choice.”
It seems unfathomable that something like this can happen in this day and age, but let this serve as a reminder how much we’ve fought and how much longer we have to go. Jocelyn started the hashtag #guiltyoflove on Instagram to garner support and awareness for queer religious people, and how grossly unfair her treatment was.
Florida’s discrimination law doesn’t cover sexual orientation, and this is the case for the majority of the states in our country.
In this country, LGBTQ people can be fired just for existing. We have the right get married, which is monumental, but that doesn’t mean we’re equal– what happened to Jocelyn is a sobering reminder.
