Pride@Work, a group tied to the AFL-CIO, has joined the effort to get Carla Hale rehired by Ohio's Bishop Watterson High School, which
fired her after her mother's obituary named her female partner. Pride@Work and #halestormOhio are asking the Catholic bishop of Columbus to
join a discussion on gay rights in the workplace:
Amanda Finelli of #halestormOhio and Glen Skeen, president of Pride @ Work Ohio, dropped off the request via letter at diocesan offices Downtown. [...]
Skeen, who is a convert to Catholicism and also gay, said the AFL-CIO is voicing its support for Hale because the firing is “a workplace issue.”
“That’s why the AFL-CIO is involved,” he said. “We do really feel that everybody needs a right to have a job ... and not be discriminated against based on our sexual orientation or sexual identity.”
The Columbus diocese has already refused to reinstate Hale. Its claim is that she wasn't fired because she was a lesbian, but because she was in an extramarital relationship. Never mind the fact that, in Ohio, she doesn't have the option of being married to her partner.