Following news that a well-respected teacher was fired from a Seventh-day Adventist school in Longwood because he is gay, the CEO and president of AdventHealth’s Central Florida hospitals sought to separate its mission and beliefs from that of the school, telling employees in an email obtained by the Orlando Sentinel that he is “proud” to welcome workers and patients without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity.

CEO Daryl Tol’s email, sent late last week, stopped short of criticizing the actions of the school, Forest Lake Education Center, which, like the hospital system, was founded by Seventh-day Adventists. The hospital system gave $22,500 to the school in 2018, according to the most recent tax records available.

But Tol also called teacher Steven Arauz a friend.

“As an active member of his Seventh-Day Adventist church, he has been a friend to many, including me,” Tol wrote. “He has taught the children of our team members, mine included, and he’s been a strong advocate for foster care and adoption throughout the state of Florida.”

Arauz said he and Tol are both members of the same Adventist church, WholeLife, which its pastors say welcomes everyone, including those who are gay, straight, bisexual or transgender.

“Daryl Tol is an awesome guy with a wonderful family,” Arauz said. “They’ve actually been very supportive of me and were making sure I didn’t go hungry” after Arauz lost his job in June.

Tol could not be reached for further comment.

Arauz, once heralded by the school for becoming a single foster parent and later adoptive father, was dismissed after being interviewed by the online magazine GaysWithKids and saying he was dating another man. Arauz argued the firing should have been illegal under federal anti-discrimination laws since the school relied on state-funded scholarships for at least 40% of its students last year, accounting for nearly $1.7 million.

It has also received an undisclosed sum of federal CARES Act grants.

Advocates for the LGBTQ community agreed.

“Anti-LGBTQ discrimination is wrong, and it’s even worse when it’s funded by taxpayers,” said Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo-Smith, D-Orlando. “So I’m just glad that AdventHealth issued this statement. They’re clearly showing us the difference between how you can weaponize religion to harm other people and how you actually can use religion to help heal and support others.”

Tol’s email also noted that AdventHealth has supported survivors of the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, the gay nightclub where 49 people were killed. Last December, the hospital system gave $1 million to the National Pulse Memorial & Museum, created in the aftermath of the massacre.

“In 2016 when the Pulse tragedy occurred, there was a lot of misinformation in the community that led some to believe that ... because we are a faith-based organization [we] would not provide quality care to people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity," he wrote. "I was saddened there were people in the community who actually believed that. I can tell you nothing could be further from the truth — then or now.”

ksantich@orlandosentinel.com

———

©2020 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)

Visit The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) at www.OrlandoSentinel.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.