An openly gay first grade teacher at Miami’s Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School was fired after posting pictures of her wedding to social media.
What happened?
Jocelyn Morffi, who worked at the school for seven years, was abruptly fired on Thursday, 8 February by principal Dr. Carlota E. Morales.
Morales sent a note home to parents on Thursday, describing the decision as ‘difficult and necessary.’
The reaction
On Friday, dozens of parents came out to protest the school’s decision.
‘I’m upset,’ said Christina Lopez, whose son was in Morffi’s class. ‘The way they handled this was just unbelievable.’
The protesting parents praised Morffi as a great teacher and said they didn’t care about her sexual orientation.
‘What she does at home—that’s none of our concern,” Ricardo Oviedo, whose daughter was in Morffi’s class, told ABC News. ‘The fact is, she maintained a high moral standard at school and was inscribing in our kids a sense of community and love.’
Many of the parents also met privately with Morales and the school’s priest to discuss the situation, but say they were not satisfied with the school’s explanation.
‘You know, to be a Catholic, you’re taught to be forgiving. But if you’re gay, forget about it,’ said parent Cynthia Cini. ‘But love is love.’
What’s next?
Mary Ross Agosta, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Miami said Morffi was fired because ‘she broke the contract she signed when she began teaching at a Catholic school.’
Morffi took to Facebook to express her disappointment.
‘This weekend, I married the love of my life and, unfortunately, I was terminated from my job as a result. In their eyes, I’m not the right kind of Catholic for my choice of partner,’ she wrote.
Morffi is being represented by Miami attorney Erica Canas, and they are in the process of discussing the next legal steps.
