Gay Catholic School Vice Principal Claims He Was Fired After Marrying His Partner

Screenshot/King 5Mark Zmuda

A private Catholic high school vice principal who claims he was fired over his same-sex marriage said he was told that in order to keep his job, he would have to divorce his partner, King 5 News reports.

Large-scale student protests over Mark Zmuda's alleged firing in a Seattle, Wash. suburb gained attention on Reddit, and a petition in support of Zmuda has garnered tens of thousands of signatures.

Zmuda claims he was fired after he married his partner. In a letter to parents, administrators said that his same-sex marriage violated his contract with the school, but Zmuda told a different story in an interview with a student obtained by King 5.

"I asked if it was a breach of contract," Zmuda said. "They said 'no.' I said, 'did it have to do with my job performance or evaluations' and they also said 'no.'"

"They said it was because I was married to a man and violated Catholic teachings," he said.

Eastside Catholic High School's president, Sister Mary Tracy, told King 5 that she made Zmuda an offer in an effort to save his job.

"I suggested to dissolve the marriage to save his job," Tracy said. "I was trying to hang onto him."

She said it was an offer she wasn't proud of, according to the news station.

The interview is embedded below: