Yikes. This story sounds way too familiar.

Al Fischer, an openly gay music teacher, at St. Ann Catholic School in Missouri, was fired after "announcing" plans to marry his partner in New York.

Details after the jump.

No, you’re not imagining the sense of déja vu. This sounds eerily similar to the firing of Steav Bates-Congdon, the Catholic Church music director in North Carolina who was fired after he married his partner in New York.

Al Fischer was dismissed after a representative of the St. Louis Archdiocese overheard him talking to co-workers about his wedding plans.

Speaking with the Associated Press, St. Ann's pastor, Rev. Bill Kempf confirmed that Fischer was fired when the parish was "informed by one of its teachers of [Fischer's] plan to unite in marriage with an individual of the same sex. With full respect of this individual's basic human dignity, this same-sex union opposes Roman Catholic teaching as it cannot realize the full potential a marital relationship is meant to express."

In a letter to his students’ parents after his firing, Fischer had this to say: "A family conversation about whether or not justice was served here could be a great thing. I do not want the lesson from this for the kids to be, 'Keep your mouth shut, hide who you are or what you think if it will get you in trouble.”

We're glad he's encouraging a conversation between the parents and their kids.

Still, Al Fischer was openly gay this entire time and was never fired, but gets dismissed because some busybody was eavesdropping on a conversation about his wedding plans?

You can’t make this stuff up.

Is this just going to keep happening?

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Comments (1)

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written by DonsterNYC, February 29, 2012

Look, the Catholic Church and every entity attached to it in the US will be exhibiting these kinds of reactions. Cardinal Dolan (an aspiring pope) is president of the US Conference of Bishops and he has declared war on homosexuals. Thus, all bishops in the US will tow the line for the sake of their jobs. If you thought the Vatican initiative to rid seminaries in the US of every possible homosexual was extreme, wait to see what will happen in the months ahead. They have declared war on our president and will stop at nothing to make points with the Christofascists. We will see LGBT people all over the US fired from their jobs for 'moral convictions' hoping that the government will pursue a law suit. They pray for this. They need these suits to generate media attention that they are being persecuted. Cardinal Dolan has even boasted that he has hired the finest lawyers to litigate these cases. Unfortunately, Al Fischer has become the most recent victim of the Church's secular political war on the US. Don't forget the Vatican is a sovereign nation and has always been opposed to the US's government because is separates church and state. They have fought for over 200 years to dismantle the first amendment.

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