A longtime music teacher at a Catholic school in the New Orleans area recently lost his job when it was revealed to an evidently “disgruntled” parent that he was another man’s widower, igniting a scandal within an archdiocese that has otherwise largely been occupied with trying to reorganize its finances in federal bankruptcy court after its clergymen spent decades sexually molesting children.
In an email to community members at the archdiocese-run school from which he was dismissed, Mark Richards explained that he had been fired because a parent notified officials about an obituary for his husband, who died of a heart attack in September 2023.
Richards’ email alluded to how his employment contract at St Francis Xavier school in Metairie, Louisiana, contained a morality clause prohibiting educators from “contracting a marriage in violation of the rules of the Catholic church” and “actively engaging in homosexual activity”, along with other conduct that the document maintains is inconsistent with the teachings of the religion that does not recognize same-sex matrimony.
Ah yes, love your neighbor except in cases: a-z.
I mean, Catholic does not tolerate LGBT+. Sure, there can be a lot of tolerant and enjoyable Catholic subcommunities, but if you are LGBT+ you will probably save yourself a lot of hassle in the future by not remaining in them and finding communities that are more accepting - which usually also means a smaller more disperse one. The Vatican has made their stance clearer on this than it has with pedophiles.
Most of the world didn’t tolerate LGBT+, until they were dragged, kicking and screaming, into the future. Why shouldn’t religion be treated the same as any other organization?
Dragging, kicking and screaming is also fueling a lot of the newfound recessive counter-movement. It was also possible because they were democratic societies based on market demand, and it was arguable more due to less forceful approaches than what you are proposing along with more receptive administrations. That is not the Vatican, you’d basically have to change the rest of the world to drag them along with it.
Nothing says you can’t find a protestant denomination of Christianity or any other religion that welcomes LGBT+. You can try to drag, kicking and screaming, the Vatican, but don’t be surprised if the actual outcome becomes fueling a recessive counter-movement within it.
Calling someone’s marriage a scandal simply because you don’t like it is the real scandal. Then firing someone over it should be a crime. At least it is a crime where I live
Conservatives first, Christians never.