Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg (Bill Pugliano/Getty)

Gay Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg would not be welcome to teach at the high school he attended, under a policy banning staff who are in same-sex relationships.

The Catholic Saint Joseph High School in South Bend, Indiana, which Buttigieg attended from age 14, abides by a church policy that rejects gay teachers who are married or in a relationship.

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend confirmed to Huffington Post that it considers entering into a same-sex relationship “incompatible with the mission of the Catholic school educator.”

Catholic high school rejects transgender students and gay teachers

The spokesperson said: “The Diocese… requires our educators to adhere to Catholic teachings on the respect for the dignity of all persons and on marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”

The church denies policies are discriminatory because gay people who live celibate lives are welcome, clarifying: “The issue is about persons who enter into ‘same-sex marriages’ or same-sex relationships.”

The diocese also directs schools to reject transgender students, explaining: “Educators are expected to encourage all students to accept their own bodies with their biological sex as God created them.”

The Democrat married Chasten Buttigieg, a junior high school teacher at an LGBT-inclusive Montessori school, in 2018.

Discriminatory practices are still common

The policy is just one example of discriminatory practices that exist across the country, campaigners said.

Eliza Byard of LGBT+ charity GLSEN told the outlet: “It perfectly underscores the very difficult situation of LGBTQ people in our country right now.

“We live in a country where in some states it’s perfectly legal to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

“Religiously based schools like [Buttigieg’s] high school have the legal right to refuse to hire people who are LGBTQ.”

Although Buttigieg’s candidacy has largely been welcomed, he has suffered setbacks on the campaign trail.

A country music station in Nashville attracted controversy earlier this week when it declined to air an interview with Buttigieg.

Evangelical preacher Franklin Graham, a close ally of Donald Trump and Mike Pence on the religious right, also warned Buttigieg he will face “eternal damnation” unless he “repents” his sexuality.

Graham, who preached at President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, had claimed: “God’s Word defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised, or politicised.

“The Bible defines marriage as between a man and a woman—not two men, not two women.

“The core of the Christian faith is believing and following Jesus Christ, who God sent to be the Savior of the world—to save us from sin, to save us from hell, to save us from eternal damnation.”