Something quite contagious is happening at Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish, Washington. A well-liked vice-principal was fired recently (Dish coverage here) not because he was gay but because he married his partner. In a spectacular and revealing twist, the vice-principal, Mark Zmuda, claims that in his discussions with the school’s president, he was told he could be re-hired if he divorced his husband:
“Apparently the fact that I have a same-sex partner and (am) having a same-sex marriage . . . they are against that,” Zmuda said during the 16-minute interview conducted by Catrina Crittenden, one of his former students. “But I also thought another teaching they were against was divorce. I’m a little shocked that was even on the table to have me keep my job. They also offered for me to have a commitment ceremony if I were willing to get a divorce.”
What does it say about the twisted, absurd view of homosexual persons that the Catholic Church should demand that they divorce their spouses as a condition of working for a Catholic organization? It tells you so much. What the church is saying by this is that homosexuals should be punished for constructing stable, committed relationships of mutual care and support. If they stay single or have some kind of down-low commitment ceremony, all will be ignored.
No wonder then that another staffer at the school has now come out:
Stephanie Merrow is a theater and dance teacher who runs workshops with local companies like Cornish College of the Arts and Village Theater. She is currently choreographing her second musical for Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish. As she told The Ron and Don Show on Monday, Merrow is also gay, and planning a wedding with her partner of five years.
“I will be showing up for work tomorrow (Tuesday) with a big rock on my hand that I got from my fiancé, Jenny,” she announced during a call-in segment on KIRO Radio.
Go read the story and see if a school is insane for firing such dedicated professionals simply for committing to another human being for life. The Pope recently warned against treating a diverse society, and a diverse catholic community, with such hostility or misunderstanding that the church delivers a “vaccine against faith.” Here’s what I know. Eastside Catholic should be proud of itself for attracting such gifted teachers and for producing a young student body able to stand up for the marginalized and persecuted. It should be ashamed for the way it is treating all of them.
The Dish 