Ousted Gay Administrator Finds New Gig at Wash. Public School

A gay vice principal who was fired from his position at a suburban Seattle Catholic school will be recommended for a similar position at a public high school on Washington's Mercer Island, according to the Associated Press.

Mark Zmuda will be named associate principal at Mercer Island High School, effective July 1, pending the school board's confirmation, reports Seattle's KING. Mercer Island School District superintendent Gary Plano announced his recommendation in a press release Friday, noting that Zmuda was selected from more than 60 applicants, and will also serve as the school's athletic director. Mercer Island is a suburb of Seattle.

"[Zmuda] impressed me with his knowledge of best-instructional practices, his integrity and work ethic and his commitment to the success of all students," Plano said in the press release.

Zmuda was forced to resign from Eastside Catholic High School in Sammamish, Wash., in December after the school learned of his marriage to his same-sex partner the previous summer. Despite sizable student protests and a wrongful termination lawsuit filed against the Seattle archdiocese on Zmuda's behalf, the parochial school stood by its decision that Zmuda's marriage violated Catholic doctrine and therefore made him unfit to be an administrator for the private institution.