Colorado

Colorado HS Coach Says He Lost Job After Refusing to ‘Denounce Being Gay'

Some Valor Christian students walked out of class this week in support of Tonga and a former girls lacrosse coach who said she, too, was pushed out of her post last year because of sexual orientation

Valor Christian High School students
Photo by Hyoung Chang/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

A religious high school in Colorado forced a volleyball coach out of his post after it learned his sexual orientation and told him the only path forward was to "denounce being gay," the man said Thursday.

Officials at Valor Christian High School, in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch, acknowledged that they confronted coach Inoke Tonga over his beliefs "pertaining to sexuality and marriage" but contend that he walked away on his own accord.

Tonga, 30, a health care administrator, completed his first season as an assistant boys volleyball coach last spring and had been tapped for a similar spot with the girls' program this fall. When Tonga was called into a meeting with Valor Christian's athletic director and pastor last week, he assumed the chat was going to be about the newly-opened head coach role.

Instead, Tonga said school officials confronted him demanding to know whether he is gay.

Some Valor Christian students walked out of class this week in support of Tonga and Lauren Benner, a former Valor girls lacrosse coach who came forward after Tonga's ouster became pubic and said she, too, was pushed out of her post last year because of sexual orientation.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

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