Dismissal of Gay Parochial School Teacher Upheld

In Doe v. Lutheran High School of Greater Minneapolis, decided by a Minnesota appellate court on August 23, the court dismissed a minister's claim that he was wrongfully discharged as a religious teacher, chair of the theology department and campus pastor at a religious high school. He argued that the Minnesota Human Rights Act prohibited his dismissal based on his sexual orientation. The court found that its resolution of the claim would require the kind of inquiry into church doctrine that is prohibited by the First Amendment. It also found that the claim must be dismissed under the Freedom of Conscience clause of the Minnesota Constitution. The religious high school's beliefs would be compromised by requiring it to continue to employ the teacher. Finally the court held that the religious-association exemption in Minnesota's Human Rights Act precludes applying it to the synod and the school here.