BURLINGTON, Vt. -
A woman says her sexual orientation is the reason she was fired by the Salvation Army in Burlington. The organization did not confirm that, but tells ABC 22 that Dani Morantez's beliefs are not in line with their mission.
Dani Morantez is accusing the Salvation Army of firing her for being bisexual. She was there for only two months, well within her probationary period... but she says her termination came far too quickly after revealing her sexual orientation.
"I believe the reason I was fired was for my sexual orientation," Morantez said.
Morantez was a Salvation Army case worker, for her it was a dream job. "I've always been interested in helping marginalized populations," she said.
And for the non-Christian bisexual, working for the faith based Salvation Army didn't matter, until she read the fine print.
"It actually said we can not hire or fire you based on your sexual orientation and then it said, however and that word scared me," Morantez said.
She signed the handbook anyway, but days later wrote a letter to her supervisors revealing her sexual orientation and religious beliefs.
"The only new information they were getting was that I was bisexual," she said.
This was on a Friday, Morantez was fired Monday.
"It clearly had to do with this because I had a spotless record with them," said Morantez.
I asked the salvation army why? The Salvation Army's Director of Development Craig Evans said, "Based on information she provided about her own personal conflicts with the organizational mission of the salvation army, determination was made that continued employment was not either in her best interest or the Salvation Army."
And when I asked specifically if it would be inaccurate to say she was fired for being bisexual... he replied, "It would be incorrect to say that she was fired for being bisexual," Evans said.
Morantez is working with the non profit organization "Truth Wins Out" and plans to take her case to the Vermont Attorney General's Civil Liberties division.
