Earlier this month, Roncalli High School guidance counselor Shelly Fitzgerald was suspended and told that her career at Roncalli could be jeopardized because of her marriage to a woman.

According to legal expert interviewed by IndyStar, there is nothing in Indiana law that specifically forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The question is does that apply for an Indianapolis ordinance? In Section 581-404, it states that any school, education, charitable or religious institution run by or affiliated by a church has an exception to the anti-discrimination clause.

Roncalli is wrong for putting Fitzgerald on leave although they’re legally allowed to do so. This does not make it right. They’re discriminating against her. She is human. She has basic human rights like everyone else. She has worked at Roncalli for over a decade and now all the sudden she’s not fit for her job because of who she loves.

Some supporters of Roncalli’s decision may say that Roncalli was right in suspending Fitzgerald because it goes against what the church follows.

Yes, it is against what the church follows but her marriage should have stayed private in her work life, the way she had it and the way she wanted it to be. She didn’t want her marriage to be known by the school and that’s why she kept it private. Her job is to help and guide students, not to push them away from their religion and beliefs.

This is a situation that happens way to often. There is no law that helps discrimination against LGBT members in religious affiliated institutions which means this happens to often. This happens a lot in religious colleges where they are protected by the law to discriminate against people in the lgbt community. These colleges file Title IX exemption so they are protected when they discriminate. For example, Indiana Wesleyan University filed for Title IX exemption after Washington state allowed same sex marriage. They filed because of the rules and discipline of the Wesleyan Church.

People should go speak out and use their first Amendment right to protest for the discrimination laws to be changed in Indianapolis and even around the U.S. because this is not what our country stands for. We stand for equal rights for all. It says it in our Constitution. We understand that government and church are separate but It shouldn’t matter that religious institutions are affiliated by or ran by a church, no one should be discriminated by any aspect of their life.