Alicia Pedreira told the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper she was fired from KBHC Oct. 23 after a picture of her and her female partner appeared in a Kentucky State Fair photography contest.

Jack Cox, a manager who hired Pedreira, said he and four other employees have since resigned from the agency in protest.

Brenda Gray, the agency's vice president for communications and development, said privacy concerns prohibit discussing specific employees. But she said the agency is up front about its expectations of workers.

"Every employee who comes in to our agency is made aware of our values," Gray said.

The applications potential employees fill out is one way they learn about KBHC policy, she added. "It's pretty clear on that in terms of what our expectations are."

The first section of the application reads: "Employees are expected to exhibit values in their professional conduct and personal lifestyles that are consistent with the Christian mission and purpose of the institution."

In a statement released by the agency, KBHC stated homosexuality is a lifestyle that would prohibit employment.

"Ours is not a ministry of condemnation. We are trying as best we know how to provide the best possible environment for the children in our care," the statement said. "We feel the best way to carry out this mission is to provide these children with teachers, caregivers and role models who embrace traditional family and sexual values."

Pedreira and Cox told the Courier-Journal she acknowledged being a lesbian when she was hired in May as an art therapist and supervisor for the Spring Meadows Children's Home in Middletown.

Cox said he told her that wouldn't be a problem as long as she didn't talk about her private life at work.

Pedreira said the photo of herself, wearing an "Isle of Lesbos" T-shirt, and her partner was taken during a local AIDS walk and entered in the state fair's contest without her permission.

She returned from vacation in August and learned several employees at Spring Meadows had seen the photo, the Courier-Journal reported.

The firing has resulted in Spalding University and the University of Louisville's Kent School of Social Work to withdraw their students from KBHC programs, the Courier-Journal reported. (ABP)