Friday, August 2, 2013

Fire the sinner

A gay high school teacher in California was fired from a Catholic high school after a newspaper published pictures of his wedding. The school knew Ken Bencomo was gay, and he even brought his partner to school events and introduced him as his partner, but apparently seeing it in the paper was too much for the school to take.

I admit I don't know what the legalities are here; private schools can fire you for "moral" reasons and often make you sign a contract, but they don't seem to have had an issue with his gayness, just with the fact that it got in the paper. The school is quoted as saying, "While the school does not discriminate against teachers or other school employees based on their private lifestyle choices, public displays of behavior that are directly contrary to church teachings are inconsistent with these values."

But legalities aside, isn't religion just lovely? Nothing says "love the sinner" more than firing him. But there's a nice part to this story, too. "Meanwhile, some of Bencomo’s former students had planned a protest march for Thursday. St. Lucy’s graduate Brittany Littleton, 23, told The Sun of San Bernadino she expected hundreds of people to attend." Littleton is hoping (rather optimistically) that the school will give Bencomo his job back. Even if the school itself can't treat a gay man like a human being, it's nice that his former students can.

1 comment:

  1. The church and their homophobia is something that is going to bring them to their knees in a few years. Lets just hope they stick to their stupidity as it will surely be the end of religion in many western countries. Problem is though I am sure some will reinterpret the bible to say they were wrong.

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