A Catholic School Banned A Lesbian Couple From Prom...

[trotsky]

(headline cont'd) ...And Their Suggested Alternative Has People Furious

https://www.good.is/articles/lesbian-prom-ban

...In anticipation of the big night, Paula emailed one of her teachers to confirm there would be no issue with two girlfriends attending prom together as a couple. When she didn’t get a response, she reached out to her guidance counselor, who came back with some very disheartening and upsetting news.

Paula and Anaji wouldn’t be allowed to attend prom together.

Their school, St. Petersburg Catholic High School, has a policy on the books that students are “not allowed to bring people of the same sexes as their date.”



It’s likely that the guidance counselor was trying to be helpful in finding a way for the two to attend prom (somewhat) together, but requiring a boy to take Paula’s girlfriend as his date is just as dismissive of their relationship and orientation as banning them outright.

A bigoted school run by bigots and overseen by a bigoted church. Not sure how anyone expected anything different, sadly.

[Act_of_Reparation]

1. Hey, I thought the Church was cool with gay relationships... just not gay sex.

Guess that was a load of bullshit, huh? I am totes surprised.

[TlalocW]

2. And people are shocked, why?

It's a private, religious school. They unfortunately can do this.

TlalocW

[ExciteBike66]

4. I don't see where anyone was shocked...

Just outraged...

[ExciteBike66]

3. I'm sure Jesus would approve!

He was all about hiding your true identity to please the authorities!


"Not sure how anyone expected anything different, sadly."

Lol, did anyone expect differently?

[HoneyBadger]

5. Catholic School prom sounds like SO much fun

They dodged a bullet.

[greymattermom]

6. Are they allowed to attend alone?

Problem solved.

[trotsky]

7. Not really.

That still sends the message that their relationship is wrong. Granted, the RCC does teach that homosexuality is "intrinsically disordered" but a lot of people have been fooled by the current pope, thinking he is liberalizing the church's thinking. He is not.

[FakeNoose]

8. Prom is a problem for a lot of teenagers

Not all teenagers "pair up" or have boyfriends or girlfriends during their high school years.
It shouldn't be required to attend the prom with a date, when a lot of kids aren't paired up yet.

So the schools should make it possible to come with a friend, or else stag. Otherwise too many kids have to miss the prom altogether. I'm not talking about gay students, this is about all high school-age kids.

Some schools allow stag or single kids to attend prom, and the gay/lesbian kids could take advantage of that option.
They just need to be discrete about it and not make waves.

BTW Do not call the Catholic Church "bigoted" against gays. The Catholic Church provided a haven for gay men & women long before it was available in other churches or organizations. It was handled discretely but it was there for a long time.

[trotsky]

9. I will absolutely call the Catholic church bigoted against homosexuals.

Because it is. OFFICIAL CHURCH TEACHING states that homosexuality is "intrinsically disordered."

[tymorial]

10. It's splitting hairs but it actually states homosexual acts.

Homosexuals are expected to adopt the same lifestyle as heterosexual single individuals when it comes to sexuality; celibacy. In practice however, a celibate avowed homosexual will be treated quite differently than a heterosexual single individual. In many churches they won't be openly welcome though that would never be made official. Regardless, the catechism is incredibly outdated and I don't expect there will be any changes in the near or distant future. I gave up hoping for change a long time ago.

[trotsky]

13. But the heterosexual individual is allowed to have sex when they get married.

The homosexual individual is not allowed to get married, and thus be celibate for life. They cannot experience a full relationship with someone they love.

Bigotry.

[tymorial]

17. Agreed

Absolutely

[Lordquinton]

12. This is an interesting side observation

that they have to pair up to go to prom, pushing kids into something they might not be comfortable with. Depending on the rules they may not allow kids to go with friends or alone (Some kids go in groups)

And yes, the church is bigoted against women and the LGBTQIA community, it's sad, but true. Any haven they provide is steeped in caveates, like denying yourself and your love, and enforcing that what you are is disordered and wrong.

[Humanist_Activist]

19. The Catholic church is as homophobic as the modern KKK is still racist...

despite protestations that they only "hate the sin, not the sinner" or only want the races to be separate.

[rug]

20. That's a ludicrous analogy.

[Humanist_Activist]

21. Really, why?

What makes the comparison invalid?

The only reasonable objection I can think of is that the KKK, as a group, exists mostly to try to "preserve the white race" as they put it. This involves a lot of mental gymnastics to try to deny they are racist while also advocating for white nationalism, segregation, etc. The Catholic church is primarily in the business to "save souls" as they put it, the fact that this involves discriminating against LGBT people is a byproduct of their beliefs, and unavoidable until such beliefs are changed.

[rug]

22. Your explanation answers your question.

[Humanist_Activist]

23. The mental gymnastics are the same though in their cognitive dissonance...

both groups deny their bigotry due to convoluted reasons, the fact that the Catholic Church wasn't initially set up as a homophobic organization is irrelevant. Its Catechism is homophobic, explicitly so, other documents and publications from official church sources reinforce and expand on this bigotry.

[AtheistCrusader]

25. The word you were looking for is 'accurate'.

[AtheistCrusader]

24. The RCC is bigoted against gay people. It actively campaigns in countries to block same sex marriage

such as the Philippines, and Slovakia.

It is ABSOLUTELY bigoted.

In Chicago, the archdiocese closed their state-funded adoption services entirely, when they discovered funding would be withheld if they discriminated against same-sex parents who wished to adopt.

They are the very definition of bigotry (as an organization) in this instance.

[hrmjustin]

11. The church needs to get rid of dark age thinking.

Being gay is not a sin but a gift.

[beam me up scottie]

14. This isn't surprising but it still pisses me off.

Growing up is difficult enough without making gay kids feel like they're 'disordered'.

This is the 21st century, RCC - time to get your heads out of your uptight collective ass and stop treating women and lgbt people like we're second class citizens.

And evangelicals aren't any better - just ask our VP who wanted to electrocute the gay out of kids.

[trotsky]

15. The gay youth suicide rate has been estimated to be about 1.5 to 3 times that of hetero teens.

EVERY message that ANY person or institution sends to a homosexual child that she or he isn't normal and loved contributes to that stat.

[beam me up scottie]

16. Exactly.

And their bigoted rhetoric about lgbt people also fuels hate crimes against them. At least seven transgender women have already been murdered this year.

At least 7 transgender women have been killed in 2017
Ciara McElveen, an advocate for the homeless, was stabbed to death in New Orleans.

Ciara McElveen, a transgender woman who worked on health care outreach for the homeless, was stabbed to death in New Orleans on Monday. She is the seventh transgender woman murdered in 2017.

McElveen died only two days after another black trans woman, Chyna Doll Dupree, was shot and killed outside of a New Orleans shopping center. Five other trans women were killed this year:

Mesha Caldwell, a hairstylist and makeup artist, was shot several times. She was found dead on a rural road near Canton, Mississippi.

Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, who was studying social work and nursing and worked as a customer service agent, was found dead in her South Dakota home. Investigators believed it to be a homicide.

Jojo Striker, an advocate for other trans women in her community, was found dead in a garage in Toledo, Ohio.

In Monroe, Louisiana, Jaquarrius Holland, 18, was shot and killed during a verbal altercation. She loved to do makeup and hairstyling, according to a Mic interview with a friend of Holland.

In Chicago, Keke Collier, who was also known as Tiara Richmond, was in a car with a man when the man fired his weapon. Once officers arrived, she was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds.

Last year was the deadliest year on record for transgender people, with 27 murders in total. The majority of the transgender people killed were trans women of color. According to the FBI’s most recent annual hate-crime report, bias-motivated incidents based on gender identity increased from 31 incidents in 2013 to 114 in 2015.

But this does not represent a full picture of gender identity-motivated hate crimes in the United States, since thousands of law enforcement agencies did not submit any data. The majority of those that did — 88 percent — reported zero hate crimes. Due to a possible lack of reporting or incomplete reporting of hate crimes, national organizations focusing on LGBTQ rights, such as the Human Rights Campaign, said the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act needs to be updated to mandate reporting and expand training for law enforcement.

https://thinkprogress.org/six-transgender-women-killed-2017-1d3a2ccd988b

Now we can't know for certain if the murderers were influenced by religion but I think we can all agree that religious hate speech against transgender people is a big part of the problem.

[trotsky]

18. Tragic.

And you're right, religiously-inspired hatred is inexorably tied up in this.