Minnesota Supreme Court Will Hear Case of a Trans Librarian Dismissed By Catholic School

Reyzl Grace MoChride

The Minnesota Supreme Court has agreed to hear Reyzl Grace MoChride v. Academy of Holy Angels & Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, a possible landmark case when it comes to the hiring and firing of LGBTQ+ people working for religious institutions. 

“Minnesota’s highest court has the opportunity to ensure that all Minnesotans, regardless of religion, gender identity, or background, can live and work with dignity,” said Joni Thome in a press release from Gender Justice, the advocacy group which is bringing the case, along with Thome’s law firm Wanta Thome PLC,.

MoChride is the former librarian at the Academy of Holy Angels, Richfield, Minnesota, a Catholic school which fired her in 2022 when she came out as trans. A lower court initially dismissed MoChride’s suit, and in 2025, a Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld that decision, citing the First Amendment. Under this decision, religious institutions have “sweeping power” to fire even employees in secular positions, such as custodians, nurses or librarians for not adhering to their employer’s religious beliefs. The appeals court ruling “sets a dangerous precedent that undermines the rights of LGBTQ+ people, people of minority faiths, and anyone who doesn’t conform to an employer’s religious views,” said Jess Braverman, the Legal Director of Gender Justice. 

In 2024,  Bondings 2.0 reported that MoChride said her employers had initially spoken positively about renewing her contract for the next school year until she disclosed she intended to publicly come out as trans at work. Afterwards, the school chose not to renew her contract.

At the heart of MoChride’s lawsuit is the reality that her position as a librarian was completely independent of the Church’s religious teachings. As MoChride’s attorney, Brittany Stewart points out, the job “did not require her to be Catholic or abide by all Church beliefs….The idea that religion had some key role in her position as a librarian is, frankly, just ridiculous.” MoChride is not Catholic; she is Jewish, a fact her employers were aware of for her entire tenure at the school. 

Minnesota Human Rights law allows for limited religious exemptions. When MoChride was fired, the state legislature amended these laws to clarify that secular employees were not exempt, but her legal case is challenging this exemption . For this reason, MoChride’s case has become vitally important for queer people working in secular positions at religious institutions all over Minnesota, and possibly, all over the country. 

—Lynnzee Dick, New Ways Ministry, April 9, 2026

Cornerstones: Sacred Stories of LGBTQ+ Employees in Catholic Institutions is an anthology of 12 stories of faith, sacrifice, joy, and pain by LGBTQ+ people who have been employed by Catholic parishes and schools, published by New Ways Ministry. The stories includes contributors who were fired by Catholic institutions, as well as those who continued employment. More information about the book is available here.