Winter Park day care workers claim they were fired because they're gay

Two Orange County women claim they were fired from a Winter Park day care because they are gay.

Jaci Pfeiffer and Kelly Bardier were pre-school teachers in Winter Park, but said they're no longer employed at the school because they’re in a same-sex relationship — something the Aloma United Methodist Church they worked for doesn't agree with. 

"We never flaunted it or even held hands at school or anything like that, so they never even knew anything," Pfeiffer said. "We didn't hide it, but we never flaunted."

The couple said they were fired last month when the director of Aloma Methodist Early Childhood Learning Center confronted the women about their relationship.  

"I was called in next and I was told Jaci had told her about our relationship and that we couldn't work for the school if we were choosing to live a life in sin — that they couldn't have us in leadership roles," said Bardier, who was a teacher at the day care for a couple months.

News 13 reached out to The Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church.

In a statement, the organization said it felt the need to end its working ties with the teachers and the decision into the women's employment "involve long-standing policies intended to reflect the beliefs and values of this congregation."

It's currently legal in Florida and 28 other states to terminate someone based on their sexual orientation, but certain counties and cities have their own ordinances that argue the law.  

Orange County has a human rights ordinance, which prohibits discrimination based solely on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. 

"The fact that the state lacks protections means you have no protections and, yes, a church can fire you, but you can't do it in Orange County because we do have those protections," said Mary Meeks, the attorney representing Pfeiffer and Bardier. Meeks also helped write Orange County's ordinance.

The Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church released another statement later Friday, stating: "The Florida Conference of the UMC believes a termination based solely on sexual orientation would violate a person's civil rights."

The two teachers are not asking for their jobs back, but they also don't want a firing to appear on their working records. 

Meeks said she will wait until Wednesday to hear from the church regarding the firings. She said legal action against Aloma United Methodist is still an option.