ORLANDO—Two lesbian women have reached a settlement with a Methodist church in Winter Park after the two day-care employees claimed they were fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation.
According to their attorney, former teacher Jaclyn Pfeiffer, 29, and her partner Kelly Bardier, a substitute at the school, settled with Aloma United Methodist Church for approximately $30,000.
Rev. Jim Govatos said the women were not fired.
“We are a church, and we have the ability and the right by law, and I think the responsibility to set behavioral standards that reflect our understanding of Scriptural values,” he said.
Church standards dictate that all day-care employees refrain from sexual relations outside of a legally-recognized marriage, said Govatos.
“We have exercised discipline over employees who were heterosexual doing the same thing. Not all of them were terminated because they revised their living arrangements,” he said.
“Pfeiffer and Bardier were aware of the rules and were given a chance to correct their lifestyle after admitting they were in a sexual relationship outside of work,” he said.
Govatos said the women decided to quit, and hired an attorney.
Kristin Giannas of WKMG contributed to this report.
