Reyzl Grace MoChridhe worked during the 2021-22 school year as a secular librarian at the Academy of Holy Angels, a Catholic high school in Richfield, Minnesota.
When it came time for contract renewal for next academic year, MoChridhe said that her employers were initially supportive of renewal, until she disclosed that she would be publicly out as trans.
Subsequently, the school did not renew her contract.
MoChride is being represented by Gender Justice, an advocacy group in St. Paul that has won previous employment discrimination lawsuits involving trans people in educational institutions.
MoChride and her attorney, Brittany Stewart, argued that the librarian’s role at the school was a secular one and that the school violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act by not renewing her contract.
Stewart has pointed out that MoChridhe’s job “did not require her to be Catholic or abide by all church beliefs.” MoChride is Jewish, and this identity was known throughout her employment at the school.
“She was not in a role where she was asked to teach theology,” Stewart said. “The idea that religion had some key role in her position as a librarian is, frankly, just ridiculous.”
According to MPR News:
“The Minnesota Human Rights Act allows for limited religious exemptions. The Legislature amended those exemptions in 2024 — after MoChridhe’s employment at the school — to clarify that secular employees are not exempt from the law.”
Megan Peterson, executive director of Gender Justice, argued that MoChridhe should have been protected even before the law was changed.
“Limited religious exemptions… were never meant to apply to secular employees,” Peterson said. “Reyzl’s story highlights the importance of ensuring that no employer in Minnesota has carte blanche to discriminate against employees simply because of who they are.”
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for MoChridhe and a civil penalty for the archdiocese and the school. Addressing reporters in Minneapolis, MoChride remarked:
“Allowing an institution to discriminate against employees for the shape of their bodies or the shape of their love is not only a violation of state law, but also a curtailment of religious freedom.”
The archdiocese commented that it is reviewing the complaint. Officials representing Academy of Holy Angels released the following statement, reported by CBS News:
“We take the allegations seriously. We are in the process of reviewing the allegations, but we are not able to make further comments because the claims involve confidential personnel matters.”
According to Gender Justice, MoChride was “widely respected by students and her colleagues for her dedication to fostering a love of reading and learning among students.”
LGBTQ+ individuals offer themselves to the Catholic Church in a variety of ways: as parishioners, clergy, conversation partners, and secular employees.
The church and its institutions cannot continue to reject our existence by discriminating against our participation–whether we are seated in the pews or working in the schools.
The church needs trans people–as neighbors, greeters, gardeners, ministers, scholars, teachers, doctors, office workers, librarians–and we will continue to be here.