Principal who offered 'a Christian perspective' on Laramie Project staging has discrimination suit revived

The lawsuit of a former Colorado high school assistant principal is moving forward after he alleged he was discriminated against for his "religious comments" about a school production of The Laramie Project.

Corey McNellis filed the lawsuit in 2022 over his firing two years prior, which he claimed occurred after an email exchange between himself and other faculty at the school in Douglas County in which he attempted to offer "a Christian perspective" on the theater department's staging of the play. McNellis said in the emails that he disagreed with the production as a Christian, according to Reuters, which he alleged was used as grounds by school officials for his suspension and eventual firing.

“As a Christian I would love to collaborate with your project. Please let me know if the love that Jesus can provide will help your play,” McNellis wrote in messages to the theater director, later responding again with, "I understand people support this. Forgive me for having a different viewpoint and the audacity to publicly share it."

The Laramie Project is about the aftermath of the brutal 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay college student in Laramie, Wyoming, and the effects felt around the world. The initial 2000 production shed a light on the lack of hate crime laws in Wyoming and throughout the United States.

The case was dismissed last year by U.S. District Judge Raymond Moore, but reinstated Tuesday by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, which agreed that while McNellis could not prove retaliation and violations of his free speech, his bias claims could go forward.

McNellis claimed in his initial lawsuit that he worried about “how the Christian religion comes across in the play," calling it a "religiously charged play that covers distressing material” and that it includes interviews from Laramie residents and “Christian leaders, some of whom share unsavory opinions regarding Shepard’s murder, and cite their Christian faith as the reason for their views.”

Matt Joslyn, executive director of Tectonic Theater Project, which created the play with lead author Moisés Kaufman, said in a statement at the time via the Denver Post that the play and company stand for "radical empathy, thoughtful discourse, and the continued campaign, together with the Matthew Shepard Foundation, to erase hatred in our world.”

“Yes, the play covers distressing material: the brutal hate crime perpetrated on an innocent person because of his sexual orientation,” Joslyn said. “Its characters are real people from widely varied backgrounds with diverse perspectives."