Catholic school fires gay guard, supporters start petition

[Ian David]

Catholic school fires gay guard

A gay-rights advocacy organization is denouncing the firing of a campus safety officer at Marian High School, saying she was dismissed because she publicized that she's a lesbian.

"It's a horrible lesson to the young women at that school," said Jeffrey Montgomery, executive director of the Triangle Foundation in Detroit.

The officer, Charlene Genther, 55, was in her sixth year at the Catholic, college-preparatory school for girls. A former Detroit police officer, she has a daughter who graduated from the Bloomfield Township school in 2001.

Her firing has prompted Marian alumnae to action. A petition at www.petitionspot.com/petitions/genther that seeks an apology for Genther and the gay and lesbian community had gathered 136 signatures by Wednesday.
Catholic school fires gay guard
Detroit Free Press, United States

More:
http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2006/10/catholic-school-fires-gay-guard.html


Also:


With Regards to the Dismissal of Ms. Charlene Genther from Marian High School Staff
Created by Joan Stoltman on October 17th, 2006 at 5:07 pm AST

To the Administration of Marian High School,

In firing Ms. Charlene Genther, you have admonished a woman dedicated to Marian. Ms. Genther was a godsend to the students of Marian (and Brother Rice), an uplifting beacon of support and protection. An entire generation of alumni were affected by Ms. Genther's understanding, compassion and motherly instincts. You have done a great disservice to Marian alumni, parents, and students in firing her. In short, you have done irreparable damage to our community. Even future Marian students will suffer by this ostracizing act because now their school has become a birthplace for hate, hostility and intolerance. You, the administration of Marian High School, the decision-makers, have attacked one of our own, and as concerned Marian alumni we will not stand by quietly and watch.

As an attack on sexual orientation, you have acted as condemner not only to Ms. Genther, but to any of our sisters and brothers, our mothers and fathers, our friends and classmates and neighbors who live any non-traditional lifestyle. And as if doing harm to your own community weren’t enough, this poor choice was an act of discrimination, a violation of state and national laws. This is unacceptable behavior for a school that prides itself in educating the women leaders of tomorrow. It is, in fact, in direct violation of the school's mission statement to "enable young women to value human diversity". This is an utter violation of the Christian values that Marian works to instill in its students. Marian and the IHM's are supposed to act as ambassadors of the church, but these decisions do not follow the teachings of Christ, and in fact attempt to narrow the scope of acceptance and love.

This issue requires immediate attention. We feel that a public apology to Ms. Charlene Genther is necessary, as is an apology to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community of Marian, who you have so carelessly devalued through your act of firing Ms. Genther. The impact of your poor decision has reverberated throughout our community, has lit a fire beneath us that cannot be quelled. You are not acting invisibly; this is our school too.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

This petiton is closed and is no longer accepting signatures.

More:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/genther

[goddess40]

1. That's the Church's position

and since Catholicism isn't an ala carte faith and isn't open to change people need to leave it if they don't believe the hate they preach.

They fired a teacher here in WI because she used in-vitro fertilization, there's nothing she can do either - except to vote with her feet.

The supporters in both of these cases will only be heard if they leave that church and find a different faith that fits their beliefs.

[Ian David]

2. I agree, so long as the organization doesn't accept tax dollars.

If they receive faith-based initiative money or tax-payer vouchers, then they should be required to follow the government's rules.

[HockeyMom]

4. Parents of students CAN do something

They can make their wallets walk. Two very popular teachers were fired at a local Catholic HS under the "morals" clause here. One teacher got a divorce and another had a vasectomy. The parents at the school refused to pay tuition until the teachers were reinstated. The students walked out of classes also. This got so much bad publicity in the local press that the school nixed the morals clause and reinstated the teachers.

[Jamastiene]

3. I think this is the same story that was posted about in the Lounge.

One person in that thread was comparing lesbians to neo-nazis. I'm still reeling at that comparison. That's really how they think, even some here on DU. *shudder*

Here is the link to my reply to that atrocity of a comment:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=5753833&mesg_id=5756760

[Ian David]

5. I just added that person to my ignore list, and contributed by $0.02.

A better analogy would have been, "What if a Jew wanted to join the Nazi party?"

[Jamastiene]

7. Precisely, yet that person chose to compare

lesbians to neo-nazis. I noticed this afternoon that that whole sub-thread was deleted. Convenient. I wish I had had a chance to hear what you said and what others from our group said when they saw that. To me, it was highly offensive that the person compared lesbians to nazis. I am still scratching my head over that.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. sorry, but thats not what he said or implied

what he said merely was a religious organization can discriminate based on their religious beliefs. and this in fact is the law.

liberal catholics should own up to the homophobia/sexism of the catholic church and leave

parents who don't want bigotry imbibed into their kids have an option of not enrolling their kids in catholic school.