Gay Teacher Fired From Astoria Catholic School After His Wedding

ASTORIA, QUEENS — An Astoria Catholic school teacher was fired from his job by the Brooklyn Diocese, which claimed that his marriage to a man violates "Catholic doctrine and morality.”

Matthew LaBanca worked as a teacher at St. Joseph's Catholic Academy in Astoria and as the music director at Woodside's Corpus Christi church for over a decade. Then, on Oct. 13, he was simultaneously fired from both positions after someone told the Diocese that he married his husband, Rowan, in Aug., according to a video shared by LaBanca. This story was first reported by the NY Daily News.

"I'm stripped of both of my jobs, all of my employment, my health insurance and, most importantly, the daily community life that has meant so much to me, not because of my work performances — not in the slightest — but because I'm gay," said LaBanca in the video, which was posted alongside a petition demanding that he be reappointed to both positions.

At the time of publication the petition had garnered over 2,000 signatures. It describes LaBanca as someone who "lives out the Gospel through his dedication to all those who learn from him;" a point that the Diocese disputes.

After a community member told the Diocese about his wedding, LaBanca said that a committee of high-ranking officials met for almost six weeks, after which point they determined that he should not continue to work at his jobs — a discriminatory employment decision that is illegal in the city and state of New York, but allowed at religious institutions.

"But just because something is legal, doesn't make it right," he says on the video, adding that the Diocese offered him a generous severance package on the condition of a 10-page-long "gag order," which he rejected.

"No price could be placed on my personal integrity," he said, instead directly pointing a finger at Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who oversees the Brooklyn Diocese and has been criticized for his past stances against same sex marriage.

In a statement to the NY Daily News, a Diocese spokesman affirmed that LaBanca was fired because of his sexuality, writing that he violated a contractual clause that teachers must “support and exemplify by his/her public conduct Catholic doctrine and morality.”

“Despite changes to New York State law in 2011 legalizing same-sex marriage, Church law is clear,” the statement continued. “In his case, it has been determined that he can no longer fulfill his obligations as a minister of the faith at either the school or the parish.”

LaBanca, however, told the Daily News that this justification doesn't make sense since many people don't live up to church teachings.

Instead, he sees his firing as “a capricious, discriminatory practice against the LGBTQ community. ... Gay people don’t choose to be gay any more than straight people choose to be straight.”

And, LaBanca isn't on his own. Northwest Queens' own City Council member Daniel Dromm — himself an activist for his LGBTQ community — told the Daily News that he is "disgusted" with the Brooklyn Diocese.

“Here we are in 2021, marriage is legal and the church is still discriminating against LGBT folks," he said, adding "it’s extreme right-wing and really doesn’t represent the way the majority of Catholics feel."

Among those Catholics is Collete Martin, the mother of a former student at St. Joseph's, who told the Daily News that LaBanca was "the kindest, most talented, gifted music teacher ever.”

Martin objected to LaBanca's termination, including the secretive way that it was carried out, which she says meant that people couldn't stand up for him.

“There was no chance for anyone to advocate for him, to show the Diocese we want this man,” she told the Daily News.