Brooklyn Diocese fires music teacher after same-sex wedding

Brooklyn Diocese fires music teacher after same-sex wedding

FILE - In this Tuesday May 5, 2020 file photo, a man sleeps on a bench near the Basilica of Our Lady Catholic Church in Brooklyn, N.Y. In a lawsuit brought the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, a federal judge has refused to block Gov. Andrew Cuomo's order limiting worship to as few as 10 congregants in communities seeing spikes in coronavirus infections. U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled Friday, Oct. 16, 2020 in a lawsuit brought the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The Brooklyn Diocese has fired a Catholic music school teacher in Queens after he married a man. It says he violated a contractual stipulation to the Catholic Church. The Daily News reported Monday that Matthew LaBanca of St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy in Astoria and Corpus Christi Church was fired Oct. 13. Diocese officials learned he had married a man in August. School and church officials say in a statement that LaBanca was fired because he violated a part of his contract that said teachers must “support and exemplify by his/her public conduct Catholic doctrine and morality.”

Photo: FILE – In this Tuesday May 5, 2020 file photo, a man sleeps on a bench near the Basilica of Our Lady Catholic Church in Brooklyn, N.Y. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)