Monday Feb 24, 2025
Ep. 2 – Mark Guevarra & the Anti-LGBT Inquisition
Dismissed with Prejudice
Workers are routinely fired because of their LGBT identity from religious workplaces—often Catholic schools—and learn they are not protected by anti-discrimination employment laws. Dismissed with Prejudice shares their stories through intimate interviews, exploring the real human toll such terminations take on these individuals and their communities, and analyzes how religious employers hide behind bad theology and unfair laws to avoid accountability. These are stories of resilient and wholehearted people who have overcome religious hypocrisy and a failed legal system, inspiring us all to make religion, the law, and the workplace more humane.
Listen on:
Episodes
Episodes
Monday Nov 11, 2024
Monday Nov 11, 2024
Matthew LaBanca is a triple-threat Broadway actor who was fired from his music jobs at a Catholic church and school after an informant notified the Diocese of Brooklyn that he had married his husband. In a rollicking yet utterly serious interview that spans childhood magic shows to a retreat for gay priests, Matthew and Matt discuss hypocrisy, the need to speak out, the miracle of shifting one’s mentality, and how art can respond to trauma. Reflecting on the truthful storytelling that defines his current one-man show “Communion,” Matthew emerges as someone with a unique and truly authentic theatrical ministry, responding to a call that transcends workplace trauma or any particular religious tradition. After hearing Matthew, you’ll be glad he “saved it for the stage” to welcome you into a new, inclusive, and genuine Communion. Won’t you join him?
Learn more
Communion the play
Matthew’s 2021 YouTube video
The New York Times article about Matthew’s termination
Matthew’s professional website
Severance the TV show
German Catholic LGBT employees publicly come out
Thursday Oct 31, 2024
Thursday Oct 31, 2024
Learn what Dismissed with Prejudice is all about from your host Matt Tedeschi.