Flint Dollar, the gay band director and music teacher who was fired from a Catholic prep school in Macon in May because he planned to marry his partner, has filed a gender discrimination claim against his former school.
The claim was filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), who enforce laws against workplace bias. The claim states that Mount de Sales Academy discriminated against him because he didn’t conform to traditional gender stereotypes, his attorney Charles E. Cox told the Macon Telegraph.
“Our belief is that one of the traditional gender stereotypes is that men marry women. He violated that gender stereotype and he was fired because of it,” Cox said.
Lambda Legal senior attorney Gregory Nevins referenced this as a possible legal strategy for Dollar in an earlier GA Voice story.
“Presumably, female employees of the school have married men and not been fired, so his firing is because of his male gender,” Nevins said.
Nevins referenced TerVeer v. Billington, which was a unique federal court ruling in that it said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin) could be used to protect gay people from employment discrimination. Lambda Legal filed a brief in support of TerVeer’s claim last April, and the ruling, which allows the case to move forward, came down in his favor this past March.
Dollar has received job inquiries from schools in Georgia and Texas, but hasn’t found a full-time position.
“My timeline is shrinking,” he told the Macon Telegraph. “My benefits and paycheck end July 31. Finding a full-time job for a non-certified music teacher, especially in the middle of the summer, is difficult. My professional life is in an upheaval. Not knowing (about a new job) is very scary.”
School President David Held is not commenting on the EEOC claim at this time.
TIMELINE
2010
Flint Dollar is interviewed for a job at Mount de Sales Academy, where he discloses that he is gay. Dollar is hired shortly thereafter as band director and music teacher.
Late 2013
Dollar informs the administration that he is planning on marrying his partner the following July.
May 1, 2014
The school renews Dollar’s contract for another year.
May 21, 2014
School President David Held calls Dollar into his office on the final day of school and fires him, citing his impending marriage as the sole reason for the dismissal.
Late June 2014
Dollar files a gender discrimination claim against Mount de Sales Academy through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
STORY DEVELOPMENTS
- Three members of the Mount de Sales Academy board of trustees resigned in the wake of the school’s firing of Dollar.
- Dollar was among nine fired Catholic gay and gay-friendly school teachers who signed a letter sent May 27 requesting a meeting with Pope Francis to talk about what happened to them.
- The “Save Flint Dollar” Facebook page has more than 2,500 likes . The “Reconsider the termination of Mr. Flint Dollar” petition on Change.org has more than 3,700 supporters.
- Dollar is asking supporters that in lieu of wedding gifts for him and his partner that they donate money to the Mount de Sales band for new uniforms.
- Dollar’s wedding is scheduled for July 12 in Minneapolis.