After Firings and Controversy, the Wedding Will Go On For two men in St. Louis, it seemed like a romantic way to spend their 20th anniversary: a weekend in New York, with a marriage ceremony in Central Park on Friday and a Broadway show, "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert," on Saturday. But for one of the men, Al Fischer, 46, a teacher at a Catholic school, there were unforeseen consequences. On Feb. 15, Mr. Fischer announced his joyful plans to colleagues at a staff meeting. His colleagues applauded, he said. He did not realize that an official from the Archdiocese of St. Louis was in attendance. The next day, Mr. Fischer was informed that he was fired. Two weeks later, after news of his firing made headlines, he was terminated from his second, part-time job as music director for the Roman Catholic church where he and his partner, Charlie Robin, have worshiped for more than six years. "I didn't expect any of this," said Mr. Fischer, who said that he and Mr. Robin had been open about their relationship, both at St. Ann Catholic School, where Mr. Fischer taught music, and at St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Church in Florissant, Mo. The pastors at both parishes knew the men were gay, Mr. Fischer said. "I didn't understand it would be, "click, you're done," but it was." The couple is going ahead with their plans. They arrived in New York on Thursday night and spent Friday morning at the city clerk's office and the court getting their paperwork in order. They are to be married today at Central Park's Bethesda Fountain at 4 p.m. For the couple, the small ceremony, which has become already become a commonplace occurrence in New York since the state legalized same-sex marriage last year, has uprooted their lives, and created a firestorm of controversy in which church doctrine, employment, love, law and the passions of school parents have all come into heated conflict. The marriage has been in the works since last March 9, the couple's 19th anniversary, when Mr. Robin, who is executive director at the Edison Theater at Washington University in St. Louis, interrupted their television viewing to propose. "He got down on one knee, put the show on pause and said, "Just to make it official, will you marry me?"" Mr. Fischer said. Missouri does not recognize marriage between partners of the same sex, so the couple considered getting married in neighboring Iowa, which does, but then decided instead on a weekend in New York. They asked their neighbor, a Presbyterian minister, to fly east with them to perform the ceremony. They did not expect any problems, Mr. Robin said. After all, everyone knew they were gay. But the day after the announcement, Mr. Fischer said, "I was informed that I'd have to leave my job after the wedding." As part of his employment, he had signed a witness statement that he would not take a public stand against the tenets of the church, "and this was considered a public stand," he said. When parents mounted a spirited e-mail campaign opposing his dismissal, he said, the school told him the decision was effective not after the wedding, but immediately. The archdiocese of St. Louis explained in a statement on Friday, "When he publicly demonstrated a life inconsistent with Catholic teaching, Al Fischer was relieved of his duties as part-time choir director at St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Parish and as music teacher at St. Ann Parish School." Mr. Fischer said that in more than two decades as an openly gay man, working in the theater, in churches and in schools, this was the first time he had encountered open discrimination for his sexual orientation. He has since accepted a job offer from a secular private school for next fall and has received "solid offers" of church work, he said, declining to name the school or the churches. He has kept his other two part-time jobs, as artistic director of a gay men's chorus and musical director at a reform synagogue. Both men say they remain committed to the Catholic church, though they plan to look for a new church to attend. "I've been Catholic all my life," Mr. Robin said. It's the way I know how to worship. Mr. Fischer said that even with his firings, he received nothing but support from the pews. Even of the people who fired him, he said: "These are good people in a tough situation, having to toe a particular line. If they supported me they'd be making a statement against the tenets of the church. They signed the same witness statement that I did. For now, the two are looking forward to a weekend in New York - including a very rare luxury, an opportunity to sleep late on Sunday morning, with no 8 a.m. Mass. "That's going to be awesome," Mr. Fischer said.