A former Western Michigan University (WMU) professor is suing the school for not renewing his contract after he wrote about leaving the homosexual lifestyle.
The College Fix reports Daniel Mattson, who worked as a trombonist and adjunct professor in WMU’s School of Music since 1999, is suing campus leaders involved in the non-renewal decision for allegedly violating his constitutional right to free speech, free exercise of religion, and for claims regarding equal protection under the law.
Mattson’s lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan states: “In the fall of 2021, campus activists discovered Mr. Mattson’s writings on Catholicism and same-sex attraction.”
“They claimed that his Catholic views were offensive to homosexual students and protested his continued affiliation with the school. In short order, the school administration removed Mr. Mattson from a student-faculty ensemble and did not renew his annual contract,” the court document states.
“Even though Mr. Mattson never expressed his religious views at Western Michigan University, he was maligned and punished solely for holding to and expressing orthodox Catholic teaching elsewhere,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit names Dean of College of Fine Arts Daniel Guyette and School of Music professor and former director Keith Kothman as defendants. The current School of Music Director and WMU president are also named as defendants, but their names are not included in the lawsuit.
Responding to inquiries about the lawsuit from several outlets, a WMU spokesman said the university does not comment on pending litigation.
According to court papers, in 2009, Mattson returned to Catholicism and left behind his prior homosexual lifestyle. For the next several years, he wrote articles and spoke at public events explaining how the church should engage with people who experience same-sex attraction.
He wrote a book in 2017 titled Why I Don’t Call Myself Gay: How I Reclaimed My Sexual Reality and Found Peace.
Later in 2018, Mattson wrote an article titled Why Men Like Me Should Not Be Priests. In his article, Mattson approved of the Catholic Church’s teaching that men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” are not a “suitable candidate for priesthood.”
“I take no offense at this teaching. In fact, I agree with it,” Mattson wrote in the article.
His lawsuit said he strictly separated his religious advocacy from his work at WMU. He never initiated a discussion about his religious beliefs or moral views with School of Music students. Mattson’s writings on the subject of same-sex attraction appeared in publications with a predominately Catholic or Christian audience, according to court documents.
The former adjunct professor alleges his constitutional rights to free speech, and free exercise of religion was violated and he was discriminated against because of his religion. His lawsuit seeks financial damages and reinstatement to his former position without any unwarranted restriction on his freedom of speech or his free exercise of religion.
***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***
Noted George Washington University Law School Prof. Jonathan Turley wrote about Mattson’s lawsuit in a recent blog.
“I have previously written how the environment of intolerance on our campuses has a particularly pronounced chilling effect on ‘contingent’ or contractual faculty,” Turley explained.
“Most professors are not protected by tenure, and universities can cite other reasons for not renewing their contracts,” he said.
“The percentage of tenured professors has been declining for half a century. Roughly three of four faculty today are what are called ‘contingent faculty,’ or faculty who work contract to contract,” Turley noted.
“The problem is that this contingency often seems to depend upon an adherence to a new orthodoxy on racial justice, police abuse, gender identification, and other issues. When a professor voices a dissenting view, universities will often defend free speech principles but then simply fail to renew a contract on unstated grounds,” he said.
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN
