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A former Colorado high school official who was fired in October 2020 for his objection to the drama department's production of The Laramie Project is now suing the school district.
The Laramie Project is a play about the reaction to the brutal murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in 1998.
The play, which is an example of verbatim theater–or documentary theater–drew on news reports, journal entries from company members and interviews gathered from the inhabitants of Laramie, Wyoming.
\u201cA former assistant principal at Ponderosa High is suing Douglas County School District, saying he was fired in 2020 for objecting to the school's production of "The Laramie Project." \n\nThe play is about the aftermath of Matthew Shepard's murder \n\nhttps://t.co/7hnA1CWO7v\u201d— Jessica Seaman (@Jessica Seaman) 1657155832
It debuted at Colorado's Denver Center for the Performing Arts in 2000 and has since been performed in high schools, colleges and community theaters across the nation as a method to combat homophobia.
Many of the performances have been picketed by devout followers of religious organizations.
Corey McNellis, who was the assistant principal of Ponderosa High School in Parker, Colorado, claimed he was fired because of his "Christian belief and because he expressed his views, which are protected by the First Amendment.”
\u201cSomehow, he took a play about a person being killed for their sexual orientation and made himself the victim?\n\nHe felt the play made Christians look bad instead of the fact Christians brutally beat a gay man and left him hanging on a wall to die?\n\nWhat a snowflake! \ud83e\uddf5\u201d— Tyger Songbird \ud83d\udc9c \ud83c\udca1 \u2660\ufe0f\ud83c\udff9 (@Tyger Songbird \ud83d\udc9c \ud83c\udca1 \u2660\ufe0f\ud83c\udff9) 1657303533
In his lawsuit against the Douglas County School District, McNellis described The Laramie Project as “a religiously charged play that covers distressing material,” and said it included interviews with “Christian leaders, some of whom share unsavory opinions regarding Shepard’s murder, and cite their Christian faith as the reason for their views.”
McNellis’ attorney Spencer Kontnik said his client spoke out against the production because he was worried about “how the Christian religion comes across in the play."
\u201cIt just goes to show that with regards to Christians, there is no winning with them. There is no room for compromise with them. If they feel offended by something, they just wish to ban you from existence. There is no limit to their pettiness. \ud83e\uddf5\u201d— Tyger Songbird \ud83d\udc9c \ud83c\udca1 \u2660\ufe0f\ud83c\udff9 (@Tyger Songbird \ud83d\udc9c \ud83c\udca1 \u2660\ufe0f\ud83c\udff9) 1657303533
When the school's theater director emailed the staff about the production three weeks ahead of its scheduled opening performance, McNellis responded:
“As a Dad of a student here and also as an employee in the school, what is my recourse if I disagree with the production?"
"Was this a heads up to see if everyone is cool?”
\u201cThey literally would rather deny a true story about a one of the worst hate crimes in U.S. history, because it highlights Christian bigotry. \ud83e\uddf5\u201d— Tyger Songbird \ud83d\udc9c \ud83c\udca1 \u2660\ufe0f\ud83c\udff9 (@Tyger Songbird \ud83d\udc9c \ud83c\udca1 \u2660\ufe0f\ud83c\udff9) 1657303533
According to the lawsuit, his response sparked a discussion among staff members, including a history teacher who offered “a social studies perspective” on the play, to which McNellis “offered to provide a Christian perspective."
Speaking about his lawsuit to the Denver Post on Wednesday, McNellis asserted that “It absolutely never had anything to do with anti-LGBTQ,” and added , “none of my comments could be seen as that.”
\u201cSchool official denounced Matthew Shepard play for making Christians look bad. Now he\u2019s suing. https://t.co/hrRgMw1ffY \u2026thereby , one could claim, he\u2019s making Christians look bad all over again.\u201d— Guy Duncan (he/ him/ his) (@Guy Duncan (he/ him/ his)) 1657527663
The lawsuit also alleged the email exchanges between the staff regarding the play were sent to administrators, including the Douglas County School District’s human resources director and the school’s principal.
He was allegedly told by a top district official to stay home because of his “religious comments.”
McNellis was placed on leave shortly thereafter and was fired following an investigation tied to the staff emails about The Laramie Project.
Regarding the lawsuit, the school district stated they reviewed the complaint and added:
“The District respects the rights of its employees to freely exercise a religion of their choosing, or not, and has policies in place that prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion.”
The school's production of The Laramie Project went ahead as planned with live-streamed performances on Oct. 23 and 24, 2020