Readers: Should Worcester Catholic schools prohibit gender expression?
A new ruling by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester mandates that Catholic school students dress and use pronouns and bathrooms consistent with their sex at birth.
A new policy has mandated that all Worcester Catholic school students dress and use pronouns and bathrooms consistent with their sex at birth, regardless of their gender identity.
The new policy, called “Catholic Education and the Human Person,” was announced last week by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester and makes updates to student handbooks with new policies on sexuality and gender identity, effectively banning students from same-sex relationships and expressing themselves in a way that is inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth.
Worcester Bishop Robert McManus approved the policy in late June and sent it to all Catholic schools to incorporate into their school handbooks beginning this fall.
In the policy, students are banned from “advocat[ing], celebrat[ing], or express[ing] same-sex attraction in such a way as to cause confusion or distraction in the context of Catholic school classes, activities, or events,” and they are also “expected to conduct themselves at school in a manner consistent with their biological sex.”
In addition, the gender of students must match their biological sex for participation in school athletics and school-sponsored dances. The rules also apply to dress and uniform policies, as well as the use of changing facilities, showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms. The new policy allows for “rare exceptions only on a limited, case-by-case basis” to be determined by the principal of the schools.
Students can be dismissed from school if their “expression of gender, sexual identity, or sexuality should cause confusion or disruption at the school, or if it should mislead others, cause scandal, or have the potential for causing scandal,” according to the policy.
McManus said the Catholic church does not have to accept the “confused notions of secular gender ideology,” according to Patch.
The policy covers 21 schools with more than 5,260 students, Ray Delisle, a diocesan spokesperson, told the Boston Globe. Already, however, some Worcester Catholic schools have pushed back against implementing the policy.
Two major local Catholic educational institutions, the all-boys St. John’s in Shrewsbury and the all-girls Notre Dame Academy in Worcester, have decided not to incorporate the new policy into their student handbooks, Patch reported.
The new policy comes at a time when states across the country advanced a record number of bills attacking LGBTQ rights, especially against trans youth. The ACLU reports there are currently 494 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S., with education and health care-related bills, in particular, flooding in at unprecedented levels.
“If the Catholic Church fails to prioritize preserving life, affirming our youth, and celebrating their authentic identities, they’re failing to create safe environments for learning and contributing to the violence we face daily as LGBTQ+ people,” Joshua Croke, president of the Worcester LGBTQ+ youth nonprofit Love Your Labels, told Patch.
Boston.com wants to know what readers make of the Worcester Catholic schools’ policy banning gender expression. Should any schools with religious affiliations be permitted to do this? Whether you’re a member of the LGBTQ community or not, we want to know what you think of the Bishop’s decision.
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