It’s moments like this that remind me why I always feel a bitter taste in my mouth every time Christians complain about being persecuted. Imagine making an announcement of your upcoming nuptials, only to then be fired when they found out that the couple was the same sex. How would conservative outlets react if a private school had fired someone for being Christian?

By all accounts, Lonnie Billard was a good employee. He has worked for Charlotte Catholic High School as a teacher for over a decade. He obviously loved his job, but when he announced that he was getting married to a man, the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina decided that he would no longer be welcome there. Naturally, Billard sued the school with the help of the ACLU, but unfortunately, he lost due to the American legal system now being a branch of the Catholic Church. Never mind that it’s a gross violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prevents people from being fired for discriminatory reasons. Apparently, though, the courts have a neat little loophole for something that inconvenient:

But Circuit Judge Pamela Harris, writing Wednesday’s prevailing opinion, said that Billard fell under a “ministerial exception” to Title VII that courts have derived from the First Amendment that protects religious institutions in how they treat employees “who perform tasks so central to their religious missions — even if the tasks themselves do not advertise their religious nature.”

So, you’re a “minister” even when your not even discussing your own beliefs. What a load of bullshit. This is nothing but thinly vailed discrimination, under the guise that this is some form of religious exemption. Frankly, it’s disgusting. Is America still a country that understands the separation of Church and state? I think we can firmly say: No.