



Mark Zmuda, who was dismissed by Eastside Catholic high school in December, filed his complaint in King County superior court on Friday. The suit alleges violation of Washington state’s law against discrimination, a breach of implied contract, wrongful termination in violation of the state legality of same-sex civil marriages, violation of the consumer protection act and tortious interference by the Seattle archdiocese.

Zmuda does not dispute that he signed an employment contract that required him to uphold Catholic teachings. However, his complaint claims that the school misrepresented its employment environment as being one of inclusion and anti-discrimination both on its website and in its employee handbook.

His lawsuit cited a passage the school has since removed from its website in which it asserted that “Eastside Catholic school does not discriminate on the basis of an employee’s or applicant’s race, religion, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation or any other status or condition protected by local, state or federal law.”

Washington voters legalised same-sex marriage when they passed Referendum 74 in November 2012, seven months before Zmuda married his partner Dana Jergens.

“On its website it said it did not discriminate on the basis of race, religious, marital status or sexual orientation,” Zmuda said in a statement. “When I read the employee handbook, it said there would be no discrimination against employees. I relied on those statements and moved to Washington to accept the job as vice-principal.”

According to his suit, school president Sister Mary Tracey, who resigned during the national outcry over Zmuda’s dismissal, knew he was gay since asking him about it during a January 2013 meeting. Zmuda said he complied with their request that he not bring his partner to school events, adding that he was given a raise and praise for his leadership in September. Two months later, Tracey learned of his marriage and told him “that if he were to divorce his husband, ECS would pay the costs of holding a ‘commitment ceremony’ in place of a wedding”, allowing him to keep his job.

“I was stunned that they would ask me to divorce,” Zmuda told the Guardian. “I am a practising Catholic. I believe in marriage.”

Zmuda’s case details that after he refused, Tracey said that Archbishop J Peter Sartain decided he could no longer work at the school, given his status as a married gay man.

In a statement released on Friday, the archdiocese wrote that “the school’s decision is consistent with Catholic teaching”, but it also disputed Zmuda’s version of events, claiming it “did not direct, nor does it have the ability or authority to direct, employment decisions made by Eastside Catholic school”.

Unemployed since his termination in December, Zmuda continues to seek a job as a school administrator. He said he has no hope or desire to return to Eastside Catholic, despite his gratitude for the student support that has spread to schools around the region, including Seattle University’s student government, which wrote a letter to Eastside Catholic, the archbishop, the US conference of bishops and Pope Francis asking them to “love and treat others as Christ loved and treated others”.

In a motion to dismiss Zmuda’s case, Eastside Catholic’s lawyers Michael Patterson and Andrew Weinberg wrote that the court cannot adjudicate his claims without violating the first amendment of the US constitution. “In order to make a discrimination determination, the court would be forced to delve into Catholic doctrine on the definition of marriage”, they wrote, asserting Eastside’s “first amendment right to make its own decisions relating to matters of faith and doctrine.”

As a religiously affiliated educational institution, Eastside “is not required to acknowledge his marriage”, they wrote.

Therein lies the irony inherent in this case. If Zmuda’s chronology of events bears out during the process of discovery, by terminating Zmuda after learning of his marriage, rather than in response to learning that he is gay, Eastside Catholic and the Seattle archdiocese did acknowledge the existence of his marriage.

If Zmuda prevails, they claim “it would create a difficult situation for religious organisations in the future. That is, all religious institutions would be forced to choose between adhering to Church doctrine or potentially exposing themselves to civil liability.”

Zmuda’s attorney Richard Friedman said their motion misrepresents the complaint. “No one is saying they can’t discriminate against gay people. If they had said, ‘we are going to adhere to church doctrine, and not hire gay people, people on birth control, or people who get divorced,’ they can do that,” Friedman said. “What they can’t do is tell people they don’t discriminate, and have people rely on that representation, and then change it on them. You have to treat employees fairly.”