Catholic school teacher fired for marriage

SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A teacher at a Roman Catholic school in San Antonio fired after she married a divorced man has filed a federal discrimination complaint.

The principal of Central Catholic High School urged Marquis LaFortune, 25, a week before her wedding in November to resign or to have her husband-to-be seek an annulment of his first marriage, options she turned down. She told the San Antonio Express-News that the firing took some of the joy out of the preparations for the marriage.

"I would have resigned if I'd felt like I'd done something wrong," she said. "I couldn't get out of bed. It's just been this cloud. It was supposed to be the best week of my life, and I had to pull myself together for the ceremony."

Under Catholic teaching, divorced persons cannot remarry.

LaFortune has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

School officials learned of her fiance's marital status from an article in The Pep, the school's newspaper. She helped manage the paper.

"In addition to gaining a new last name, Ms. LaFortune will also be inheriting a beautiful stepdaughter," the article said.