Iowa Teacher Forced to Resign Over Sexual Orientation

Matthew Gerhold, an openly gay music teacher based in Iowa, told the Iowa Capitol Dispatch he was forced to resign from his job at a private Christian school after he was blackmailed over his sexual orientation. 

Gerhold told the school he was gay when he was hired the previous summer and the school simply suggested he stay closeted and “not pursue a relationship” while employed. He also says he was instructed not to come out to students. 

In January of this year, Gerhold contacted his superiors to report that his phone had been hacked and someone was attempting to blackmail him by threatening to share information about his sexuality with his friends, family and employer.  Shortly after Gerhold reported the blackmail attempt, photos from his phone were posted to the school’s Facebook page.  Gerhold was then summoned to the administration offices and placed on administrative leave.  Gerhold tried to report the blackmail to the police, but was told they didn’t have enough resources to investigate.

The same day his information was leaked against his will, the school pastor (who also serves as a member of the school board) suggested he resign instead of being fired at the next meeting. Gerhold took the pastor’s advice and resigned the same day—only to later have the school fight him on unemployment benefits.  The state eventually ruled that Gerhold was eligible for benefits because he had committed no workplace misconduct that would disqualify him from eligibility.

In speaking to the Dispatch, Gerhold said the school and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod as a whole see “homosexuals as a problem that must be swept under the rug quietly and discreetly. They simply don’t see sexual orientation as involuntary attraction to one sex or another, they see sexuality as choices, whether they admit that or not. I wasn’t the first gay man the church has done this to, and I won’t be the last because the church doesn’t want to listen to understand my story or background. They are only listening and waiting to respond to it with pick-and-choose theology.”

Gerhold said he loves teaching and introducing to others the joy of music.  “My sexual identity has absolutely nothing to do with my career in music and my love for music,” he said. “If the church as a whole doesn’t want to use me for whatever they are striving to achieve, then I shall go somewhere else that would love to have me to live out my vocation for others.”