Hey everyone. I'm back at home for the weekend for work, and while here I read the newspaper. There was an article basically outlining the attempt to get a motion passed allowing the organizations of GSAs in Catholic schools, but the motion was taken down before the meeting of the region's Catholic school board by the head because it was "out of order". A former graduate of one of these schools (conveniently my school) attended the meeting and tried to explain why they are so necessary. The article comments on how even if the motion was put forth, there still wouldn't be enough support for it to be passed. Needless to say I'm kinda peeved about this. I wasn't out in high school for mostly personal reasons, but really, I think in my 5 years there (had to return for an extra year, different story) I saw one openly gay guy, no lesbians and no bisexuals in a school of 1200 people. There is no reason I would have felt safe or comfortable coming out in that environment. The closest thing to a counsellor (if you aren't having "real" severe problems) would be the school's chaplain, but given her religious role, she's not the person I'd talk to about things either. At least where I was, I think in part to it being a Catholic (rather than Christian) school, the whole "being gay is a sin" thing was never really explicitly taught, but there was an air of it being frowned upon. There's supposedly rules in place about staff not being able to talk about whether or not they are LGBTQ, let alone teach the subject, which wouldn't surprise me either. I'm having an activist moment; I want to do something about this... I might not make a big difference, but I gotta try just because this hits so close to home. The first problem is I'm not out at home, but theoretically that'll be fixed by the end of the week. Here's where I need advice: - I'm thinking e-mail might be a good way to go about it. Kinda anonymous, yet not at the same time. If I can "come out" here then I'd gladly do something more personal afterwards. Is there anything I need to watch out for? - Does anyone know of any Catholic/religious schools (not necessarily in Canada either) that have GSAs or equivalents and are beneficial to the school community? Currently, the supposed stat is that none of the Catholic schools in the whole province have GSAs, because the respective boards keep turning down the motion. I feel like an example might be beneficial. - And of course, if anyone has any other tips/advice/experiences to share, I'd gladly take them! Thanks as always guys.
Well it kind of looks like you're university age. I went to the University of Victoria, and I know they have Pride (which is a more liberal network of people, with all of the problems that implies) and the Positive Space Network (which is more to my liking, and a lot of radical queers I knew were members of it and volunteered). Did you mean email to come out to your parents, or email to contact the school? I would recommend emailing the school and coming out to your parents in person if you feel safe doing that.
I'm not really sure what to suggest. I remember reading about this in the paper too. Do you remember about 6 months ago a similar thing happened with Halton Region's Catholic School Board? I mention it because one of the school board trustees was a conservative gay guy in his 20s and he made some really good points before the board. Anyway, here is an article. Halton Catholic board drops ban on gay group Also -- you may also be interested in knowing that the Ontario Provincial Legislature passed two anti-bullying bills through parliament this week. The first is the Progressive Conservatives Bill and the Liberals have since introduced their own. Both parties thankfully agreed to send both to committee at the same time so they can be hopefully mashed together and passed with both parties' support.
I go to a Jesuit Catholic school, though unfortunately the kids there are very conservative. I would feel fine about my teachers knowing because they're the more 'open-minded' type, but other students... that would be social suicide. To my knowledge no one at my school is openly gay, but there's one kid who's the yeah-I'm-gay-but-I-don't-want-everyone-to-know type and he's out to most of the drama club.
@Pret: I was looking more into GSA-type groups in high schools. I've got our own safe-space here at university, but I figured high school examples would have more impact on whatever argument I'm trying to make. And I definitely meant e-mailing the school board (the head actually, if I can find his e-mail); I intend to come out to my parents in person, hopefully. @Fintan: Thanks for that link! I usually don't follow the news much, just when it's right in front of my face, so I never heard of that. I'll be looking into that story though.
I'm only familiar with colleges, as opposed to secondary schools, but off the top of my head I know that John Carroll University (Cleveland OH, Jesuit-affiliated) and Villanova University (Villanova PA, Augustinian-affiliated) are very accepting of lgbt students and faculty. John Carroll a little more obviously so, but Villanova is still very active. There are many more schools in the country that are quite accepting, certainly enough so that the issue could be opened to discussion. Also, since you mentioned it, good luck with coming out at home soon!
Your school is not alone in that idea. My brother is part of the SRC for the catholic high school that I went to and has said that the idea of a GSA has been brought up. Unfortunately it was shot down (not sure by whom) for all catholic schools in the city. Good luck with your venture!
Thanks again for the replies guys. I know how I mentioned in the OP that I probably wouldn't talk with a chaplain about this because of her religious role. The thing is, I was close with the chaplain at my school (we were involved in extracurriculars together) and I know for a fact she's cool with LGBTQ stuff. I was thinking maybe it would be worth it to talk to her about what she thought. I have no problem with coming out to her, but would it be inappropriate to "drag" her into this? It might amount to nothing, but she's really the only connection I have to the school/school board.
You can talk with her but ultimately it's the decision of a specific higher up religious person. You can talk to her but I don't know if there's much she'll be able to do.
Updates! I went down to the school to see if she (the chaplain) was around last Friday, and I caught her, but she was busy. She said it'd be fine if I just e-mailed her, so I sent her an e-mail last night. She replied this morning. All I mentioned was that first off, I'm gay, and secondly, I'd been reading the paper and this is what I've heard. Obviously I'm a little bothered by this supposed "ban" on GSAs, but I have no idea what the most appropriate route to go about addressing it would be. And if she had any suggestions, I'd gladly appreciate it. She wrote back, but on a slightly different perspective. Totally fine about me being gay, but kinda went on a spiel about how the media was inaccurately portraying this thing. A bit about how no school system (Catholic or otherwise) should be using it's students for political gain, and that basically this whole issue is a giant political battle, because many political figures are vying to see the Catholic school system fall and amalgamate with the public school system. She also noted how our schools have basically been providing the same support (for longer than public schools, apparently?), just not under the name of "GSA", because we didn't need those same politics. I think to sum it up, I've kinda heard two "biased" views on the topic now; one from the newspaper, and one from her. While both are accurate to some degree, they're laced with personal intentions... I don't really know where to go from here. I get the sense from her stance I need to tread lightly a bit... not because she'd turn around and hate me for disagreeing, but I don't want to offend/hurt her; she was pretty adamant-sounding on the idea that they've been working long and hard to support LGBTQ students. I think after learning more my issue isn't that there is no support (because I did to some extent know there was), but that the support isn't really "public" or "well-known"; you kind of have to know the right people to talk to and really actively seek it out, which is hard for questioning people to do. Any suggestions? EDIT: To add, she noted that she was taking a couple students with her to some sexual minority advocacy group thing, to share their stories/perspectives with those providing help, so they can help the best they can, and invited me to come along (but I was busy :/). So she really is fine with it.
I don't mean to pester, but does anyone have anything? I really dunno what to do. I still feel like I should do something, but I don't want to get wrapped up in a big game of politics... :/ Sorry, and thanks.
