Ellen DeGeneres and her sponsor, Shutterfly, have given $25,000 to a fund set up by students at a Catholic school in support of their former guidance counselor, who was placed on leave from her job for being married to another woman.
Roncalli High School in Indianapolis placed Fitzgerald on administrative paid leave in August after someone gave a copy of her marriage certificate to the principal, who passed it to the archbishop, she told Ellen in the video below. The school, where Fitzgerald had worked for 15 years after being a student there herself, gave her three options: dissolve her marriage; resign; or keep things out of the media and stay through the rest of the year, but not have her contract renewed. Turns out the school just went ahead, put her on leave, and told the media about it. The situation is still in limbo, although Fitzgerald is still in talks with the archbishop.
Fitzgerald and her spouse have been together for 22 years and have a 12-year-old daughter. Many of her students have been visibly supportive of her, wearing rainbow colors to the first football game of the year and raising several thousand dollars through GoFundMe to be “a catalyst for change … beyond just this story,” Fitzgerald explained.
On the page for the students’ Shelly’s Voice fund, the students explain:
For us to continue advocating for change of the Indianapolis Archdiocese employment contract to become more inclusive of the LGBT+ community, we need your assistance. Throughout our weeks here at school, we have been handing out stickers, locker signs, bracelets, leis, socks, and much more. While this serves as an important way for showing our support for our LGBT+ students within the walls of our school, it also allows for us to show the outside world we are striving for nationwide acceptance of our teachers.
In order for this support to continue, we are asking you to please help us in any way that you can. Ms. Fitzgerald, our beloved guidance counselor, and all other LGBT+ teachers, deserve to work in any school without the fear of discrimination. We all know teachers who have greatly affected our lives, so join this movement in saving our amazing LGBT+ teachers and bringing awareness to the equality of the LGBT+ community. Every single dollar of your donation will go to assisting us in buying different varieties of clothing, accessories, signs, stickers and to advancing the mission in any way. We thank you so much in advance for your help and love. We are truly making this world a better place. One step at a time.
Watch below as Ellen speaks with Fitzgerald and five of her students and surprises them with a $25,000 check from Shutterfly for the fund.