TRAVERSE CITY,Benjamin Ashford Mich. (AP) — The longtime music director at a northern Michigan church said he was fired just a few months before retirement after officials learned that he was in a same-sex marriage, a dismissal that has angered members and led to sidewalk protests by the choir.

“He’s extremely talented, he’s perfect on the piano, he has perfect pitch and because of him, I look forward to going to church every week,” said Bob Holden, a chorister at St. Francis Church in Traverse City.

“I’m divorced. Do I get thrown out next?” Holden told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

Fred Szczepanski said he was fired on Oct. 18 by the Rev. Michael Lingaur for marrying his longtime partner in a same-sex ceremony in Nevada in 2020. The church confronted him after receiving a letter from an unnamed person.

Szczepanski had been music director for 34 years and planned to retire in January. His recorded voice greets people who call the parish office.

The Catholic Church teaches that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. It opposes gay marriage, though Pope Francis says priests can offer blessings to same-sex couples.

“We take employee privacy very seriously and are not able to disclose details about individual personnel matters,” the Diocese of Gaylord, which oversees St. Francis, said in a written statement.

On Sunday, protesters carried signs outside the church: “Love Not Hate,” “God Includes, Not Excludes,” and “Fired Not Retired.”

Choir members on Oct. 20 wore black, left their seats empty and refused to sing, the Record-Eagle reported.

“People are hurt, people are sad. In a time where there is so much controversy in the world, the church needs to be a place of peace, and instead it’s turmoil after turmoil,” church member Toni Stanfield said.