The Minnesota Supreme Court will decide if a former employee of a Catholic high school can move forward with a lawsuit against the school and the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis after the employee was not re-hired after coming out as transgender to school officials.

Reyzl Grace MoChridhe, who worked as a librarian at the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Minnesota, told the school about plans to transition genders for the following year, reported MPR News. MoChridhe says that school administrators said they would not re-hire him for the next school year if he transitioned genders.

MoChridhe’s contract was not renewed. MoChridhe filed suit against the school and archdiocese in 2024, saying that their actions had violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

As of 2026, MoChridhe identifies as a transgender woman.

While the Academy of Holy Angels is a Catholic school, MoChridhe said the role of librarian was secular in nature and did not require adherence to Catholic theology. To support this claim, MoChridhe stated that he is Jewish, and informed the school about this during the hiring process.

The Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis says that the school had every right to not re-hire MoChridhe, and that the school’s actions were covered under religious exemptions to the Minnesota Human Rights Act. Lower courts agreed with the archdiocese, but MoChridhe appealed to the state’s Supreme Court. MoChridhe is requesting monetary damages as well as a civil penalty for both the school and the archdiocese.

Arguments in the case were heard on Tuesday, September 1.

Luke Goodrich, an attorney for the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis, says that the school did nothing wrong in letting MoChridhe go.

“The complaint in this case seeks to penalize a Catholic archdiocese and a school for maintaining undisputedly sincere religious standards for employment,” Goodrich said, reported by MPR News.

Following Tuesday’s hearing, Goodrich noted that other courts have sided with religious groups in similar employment cases.

“We look forward to another ruling affirming that the Catholic Church has the freedom to run Catholic schools according to Catholic values,” Goodrich said.

The Catholic Herald reached out to the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis for comment but did not hear back.

‍