In most cases their sexuality was known, and accepted as long as they kept it in the closet and lived in sin. But getting married--even if not being public about it--is enough to be fired. Apparently there's a real cult of denunciation and outraged anti-gay Catholics trawl through the papers looking for wedding announcements and send anonymous complaints.
Well, it has happened again. In a particularly nice touch, a woman from Arkansas was fired within an hour of marrying her female partner in New Mexico.
Didn't even wait for the signatures on the license to be dry. In fact, she got messages before hand, implying that if she called it off, she could keep her job.
Remember, she's in New Mexico, being married privately, to someone with whom she's been partnered for YEARS.
And, once again, what about the double standard? Says one correspondent to the principal who did the firing,
I hope you are prepared to fire any teacher that has: been divorced, had sex outside of marriage, had an abortion, or used/uses any form of contraception. Otherwise, your decision to fire Ms. McCullough is not just ethically, morally, and theologically problematic, it is also inconsistent and hypocritical.yeah, that's the thing--it's only The Gayz who get nailed with this.
The principal responds,
It was brought to my attention that by entering into a same sex civil union, whereby a public document was generated, one would be in direct violation of the morals clause of the employee contract.Actually, it's not a civil union. It's a civil marriage. So it's all about a public document. Hmmmm. And who brought it to her attention?
Whispers in the night….
I want to finish with a quote from a commentator that I've cited before
I want to separate the question whether Catholic institutions have the right to do this sort of thing from the question whether they should, on either moral or prudential grounds. I am not aware of divorced and remarried teachers getting fired. The axe always seems to fall on those who are somewhat more easily marginalized: unmarried pregnant teachers, gay teachers, etc.So, should the unmarried pregnant teacher get an abortion on the down-low, and the gay teacher continue to live in sin?
3 comments:
"Public documents" include divorce decrees and marriage license of those married after being divorced. So it's not about "public documents." It's about being gay and honest. Period.
Vatican history is replete w/ those who "crashed" an audience w/ the Pope (including several canonized saints who did!). I propose one or more of these fired teachers do exactly that, w/ Pope Francisco. "Permit" *cough* compel *cough* him to put his Euros where his mouth his, on "not judging" LGBT people.
Here's an excellent description (from a different case):
Telling people who don’t like that to stay away from the black box isn’t enough. These organizations are too dominant in their fields (education, social services, health care), involved in the public sphere, and entrusted with taxpayer funds to just avoid. Certainly, as critics hear regularly, “the Catholic Church is not a democracy.” Indeed, it is an anti-democratic hierarchy that rejects the equality norms of the United States, but it and its affiliates are operating within a democracy with a system of laws. That those laws protect people like Christa Dias and entitle her to make her case to a jury is not a violation of religious freedom.
source
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