A Catholic school in Louisiana fired its long-time music teacher and band director after learning that he was married to a man from his husband’s obituary.
According to The Guardian, 63-year-old Mark Richards’ 21-year career at St. Francis Xavier, a Catholic school in Metairie, Louisiana, run by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, ended in June, when he was informed that the school would not renew his employment contract for the 2025/2026 school year.
Related
SCOTUS lets religious parents opt their kids out of LGBTQ+ books but they can’t opt out of society
America is supposed to be a melting pot, not a buffet.
As both The Guardian and local NBC affiliate WDSU report, Richards alleged in an email to members of the school’s community that St. Francis Xavier fired him after a “disgruntled” parent discovered a copy of his late husband John Messinger’s 2023 obituary — which listed Richards as Messinger’s widower — and notified school officials.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today
In his email, Richards acknowledged a “morality clause” in his employment contract with St. Francis Xavier. As NOLA.com first reported, that clause specifically prohibits staff from supporting or engaging in same-sex marriage. WDSU obtained a copy of the clause, which also reportedly lists “Actively engaging in homosexual activity” as a violation of the contract.
Richards met Messinger two years before he started working at St. Francis in 2003, and the couple married in 2014, according to The Guardian. Richards wrote in his email that he signed his annual contract, including the morality clause, with “a wink and a nudge since it was no big secret that I am gay.” He went on to claim that the school was aware of his relationship, going so far as to describe his colleagues as “very sympathetic and supportive” after Messinger’s death from a heart attack in 2023.
But in an interview with WDSU, Richards said that in June he was told that he was being fired because he had “lied” when he signed his contract each year, because he “was living with a man as we were married and we weren’t married in the eyes of God.”
In a follow-up email to parents obtained by WDSU, the school confirmed Richards’s dismissal but declined to comment on the reasons behind its decision not to renew his contract. “We cannot, by law, comment any further on the reasons behind this decision other than to note that the email you received did not provide a fully accurate description of the employment situation,” school officials wrote, adding that they “strive to always make decisions that uphold the teachings of the Catholic faith that are in the best interest of our school.”
Similar morality clauses are common at religious schools. Last year, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled that a North Carolina Catholic school did not violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bans employers from sex discrimination, when it fired a drama teacher for announcing his intention to marry his same-sex partner. The court found that teachers at religious schools fall under the “ministerial exception” to Title VII and that such schools have a First Amendment right to fire teachers for reasons that would otherwise be illegal.
In his email to the community, Richards noted that he has not been in violation of the school’s morality clause since his husband’s death, adding that “no one can find any incident of my acting inappropriately with anyone, let alone a student.”
Richards may have been alluding to the abuse scandal that has rocked the Archdiocese of New Orleans. As The Guardian notes, the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020 in an effort to settle hundreds of clergy molestation claims dating back decades.
Meanwhile, Richards has seen an outpouring of support from the community. According to WDSU, parents launched an online petition in support of the teacher, which has garnered over 1,500 signatures. Parents Katheryn Lee and Rick English both told WDSU that they would like to see the morality clause removed or changed.
“I would like the line regarding homosexuality in the morality clause that educators sign to be removed,” Lee said. “Your identity is not your morality. I hope we have a voice in this. It’s just emotional.”
English said he thinks the morality clause is “a violation of human rights. To me, it’s a social injustice at this point.”
Richards, likewise, has been galvanized by his ordeal with St. Francis. “There’s no reason for me to slink away with my tail between my legs,” he told NOLA.com. “If I can make things better for the next gay teacher, then I need to speak out.”
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.