DUNLAP, Ind. – A northern Indiana school district says it has fired a coach who tweeted about burning down a pizza shop after its owners said they wouldn’t cater a gay wedding because of their religious beliefs.
Concord Community Schools Superintendent Wayne Stubbs confirmed to The Goshen News that Jessica Dooley was terminated on April 20. Dooley was the head coach of the girls golf program and also an assistant coach with the softball and girls basketball programs.
Dooley had been suspended since April 1 after she suggested burning down Memories Pizza in Walkerton over the owners’ support for a new religious objection law that critics called anti-gay.
Fallout over the law sparked boycotts of Indiana and led lawmakers to revise its language to address concerns that it could be used as a legal defense for discrimination.
St. Joseph County prosecutors are reviewing Dooley’s case.
A phone listing for Dooley wasn’t available April 21.
Memories Pizza became the focus of the debate over Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which lawmakers scrambled to revise after national criticism. A GoFundMe campaign raised over $840,000 for the business, which was forced to close its doors as the controversy raged last month. It has since reopened.
