Jocelyn Morffi was a beloved first grade teacher at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School in Miami, which fired her this week after she posted photos of her wedding online.
Wrote Morffi on social media: “This weekend, I married the love of my life and, unfortunately, I was terminated from my job as a result. In their eyes, I'm not the right kind of Catholic for my choice of partner.”
In a letter to parents, Principal Carlota Morales called it a “difficult and necessary” decision. Nearly a dozen parents who had children in Morffi's class came to the school to protest her firing. The parents called her a “great teacher” and said they were aware that she is openly gay and that it made no difference.
“I'm upset,” parent Christina Lopez told WPLG. “The way they handled this was just unbelievable.”
…A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Miami told WPLG Morffi “broke the contract she signed when she began teaching at a Catholic school.” Her contract contained a moral turpitude clause.
Parents learned of the firing in a letter they received from the school on Thursday evening, which did not give a reason for the decision. On Friday morning, roughly 20 parents gathered at Sts. Peter and Paul to demand an explanation from the school principal.
“We were extremely livid. They treated her like a criminal, they didn't even let her get her things out of her classroom,” said Cintia Cini, parent of one of the children in Morffi's class. Cini said that the parents hadn't known Morffi was gay, but did not care about her sexual orientation. “Our only concern was the way she was with our children, the way she taught our children and this woman by far was one of the best teachers out there,” she said.
