Catholic school teachers resign, rather than sign anti-gay clause
Cincinnati Catholic teachers have chosen to resign, rather than sign a new contract containing a clause banning public support for LGBT people.
The new contracts in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati would also ban teachers from endorsing sex outside of marriage and would ban support for in-vitro fertilisation.
One teacher, Robert Hague, has opted to quit his job after working as an English teacher for 50 years, rather than sign the contract.
He told CNN: “It is an embarrassment and a scandal, and will drive even more Catholics away from an institution so out of touch with its times.”
Hague said he was opposed to “the language, the intent, and the tone” of the “morality clause”.
In an open letter to the Cincinnati Catholic Schools Superintendent Jim Rigg, Hague said: “This is a deep human issue and to dismiss it … by calling (homosexuality) a lifestyle seems to be a huge misunderstanding on the cognitive level … It’s a dismissal of other human beings.”
Another teacher, Molly Shumate, who has an openly gay son, said she was opposed to the new clause.
“If my son were to say to me, ‘will you go somewhere with me that is supported or run by gays and lesbians,’ I would have to tell him no, according to that contract. And if my picture was taken, what would happen?” she said.
Other teachers reluctantly signed the contract, saying they felt they had no choice but to do so.
