For the 2014 – 2015 school year, more than 2,200 Catholic school teachers in the Cincinnati Archdiocese will be required to sign a nine-page contract explicitly forbidding the personal practice or public endorsement of the “homosexual lifestyle,” as well as living out of wedlock, pre-marital sex, abortion, surrogate mothers, in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination.

The contract says that these practices would "reflect discredit on or cause scandal to the school or be in contradiction to Catholic doctrine or morals,” and could be grounds for termination.

Presumably the Archdiocese revised the contract to avoid high-profile firings like that of Mike Moroskin, the Ohio administrator who was fired for publishing a pro-marriage equality blog post last year, and Carla Hale, the Ohio teacher who was also fired last year after her mother's obituary listed the name of Carla's female partner.

When asked about the expanded contractual restrictions, Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco (pictured) said:

"There aren't any new expectations of our teachers in the 2014-2015 contract. The revised wording is just more explicit in that it lists examples of behaviors that are unacceptable as contrary to church teaching. We think that's fairer to the teachers and a help to them.

"We regard all of our teachers – not just religion teachers – as ministerial employees, even if they are not Catholic. Our contract for many years has reflected that by including a moral conduct clause. Last year we made that clause more explicit by mentioning the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and this year we've added examples of unacceptable behaviors."

Despite the Church's entrenched refusal to support marriage equality, a December 2012 poll found a growing number of male Catholics who have begun to support same-sex nuptials.