They Cannot Even Speak Our Name, Ctd

A reader writes:

The letter from the former Benedictine monk mirrors my experience as a gay teacher at a Catholic high school in Los Angeles. I, too, can look around me at any gathering of educators in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and lose count of my gay and lesbian colleagues. As our Benedictine friend wrote, "We are their lifeblood; we are their priests, we are their brothers." And their teachers.

Sadly, five years ago, a new uber-orthodox, collared superintendent took the reins of the secondary school system from an enlightened lay person – she had allowed same-sex couples at Catholic high school proms!

In the aftermath of the Prop 8 campaign, as progressive Catholic students and teachers joined the inspirational street protests, the new superintendent issued a memo. In addition to suggesting "reparative therapy" for students with "same sex attraction" and implicitly threatening the livelihood of gay teachers, the superintendent declared, "Use of the words 'gay' and 'lesbian' should be avoided because they are political words and their use implies acceptance of the agenda behind them. It is also not wise to label people by their perceived sexual identity. They are children of God made in the image and likeness of God."

In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, they cannot even speak our name, and they have ordered the rest of us to follow suit – or else.