By Melanie Nathan, January 06, 2014.
Students walked out of Eastside Catholic and several Seattle-area Catholic schools following the firing of Vice Principal Mark Zmuda in December. Zmuda was forced out after marrying his male partner, an act the administration claimed violated church teachings. The students in the school showed support for “Mr. Z” with rallies at the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle, and now they are planning a nation-wide “Z-Day,” asking people around the country to wear orange, on Jan. 31 to show solidarity with the fired vice principle.
Now there is the potential for yet another firing as a teacher comes out on a radio show, noting she has a same-sex fiance:
On the show the teacher notes:
As she told The Ron and Don Show on Monday, Merrow is also gay, and planning a wedding with her partner of five years: “I will be showing up for work tomorrow with a big rock on my hand that I got from my fiancé, Jenny,” she announced during a call-in segment on KIRO Radio.
“I’m not Catholic, I told them I wasn’t Catholic. But it didn’t say anything about being gay.”
Merrow said she was unsure if Eastside Catholic will decide to fire her because of her upcoming marriage to Jenny Frazier, who is the Facilities Director at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.
“It would be a blow. It would hurt.”
She became emotional when talking about the Eastside Catholic students who chose to take a stand.
“I’m completely choked up. Those kids are just so wonderful. This generation just absolutely warms my heart…The fact that they’re making a huge statement and trying to make history just makes me so proud,” she explained.
“This is exactly why I didn’t (quit).”
While acknowledging some of her students do not agree with gay marriage, Merrow said she supports their right to disagree.
“I still love them. I couldn’t be more proud of those kids.”
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STUDENTS PROTEST FOR MR. Z
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PoochParkWear customizes hoodies and t-shirts, the good, the naughty, the in between, whether proud or quirky let them be seen. We also offer biker jackets, croc or pleather collars, a variety of collar charms, and our special Zinja beaded collars made by a co-op of HIV-positive South African women, the Sisonke women who weave the beads onto the collars.
Keep going kids, keep going! You’re on a roll!
Just kinda warms my heart that it is a fact that the old Catholics are dying off, the middle age Catholics have lost their liking for raping priests, and the young Catholics have had it up to here with the hypocrisy of the church. The Catholic church in the USA and Europe will change… or die out. Can’t say I’ll shed any tears!
“While acknowledging some of her students do not agree with gay marriage, Merrow said she supports their right to disagree.”
Sorry- NO. These students are the bigots of our future, being essentially “trained”- even by a gay & well-liked teacher, that it’s okay to be a bigot & to discriminate if you hide behind the “cloak of religion”.
I don’t buy it- & she’d do herself & her GF a big favour to stop trying to placate the bigot in these kids & just tell them to, “sh*t or get off the pot”. Make a stand or stand back.
Imho.
PS- it is NOT, IS NOT, “gay marriage”. Marriage is not gay, nor bi, nor straight, nor trans, nor queer, etc, etc….
Please- I do BEG: it is MARRIAGE EQUALITY
Yes I abhor the use of the term gay marriage but have to use it when quoting others- I always use marriage equality or same sex marriage. However many of our own are not aware of the PC language. I understand the teacher’s “acceptance” of those who do not “believe in gay marriage” – and that she would maintain a less activist stance in her ‘tolerance’ of her students inability to “believe in ” (another term I cannot stand) ss marriage. I do think she is leading by example though and by coming out in this public fashion she is to be commended – because by doing that the action of allowing her students to get to know who she is in her personal life opens up their eyes over time to help them reach acceptance.
They are young, they are influenced by priests, nuns parents… now you can add a teacher’s impact and over time they stand a much better chance of getting it. They say when people start to “SEE”: the gays and lesbians around them, that they are their teachers their doctors their friends etc. then theyare more likely to understand equality.
“I do think she is leading by example though and by coming out in this public fashion she is to be commended – because by doing that the action of allowing her students to get to know who she is in her personal life opens up their eyes over time to help them reach acceptance.”
I understand where you’re coming from- as a very educated & thoughtful lesbian…However I don’t think this tact works the same for religious & discrimination-taught students.
I thing the opposite- you show them your soft-side & the bigots/bullies amongst them take that rope & run with it.
I’d prefer to use the momentum to get these kids to actually take their (bigoted) stand & to have to justify it- NOW.
It’s far easier to hide behind a cloak than to debate your own, open-minded peers.
Imho.
Using “gay marriage” or “same sex marriage” sets us back every time.
I dont understand what you are suggesting the teacher does with those students beyond coming out to them?
PLEASE PLEASE stop with the ALL CAPS headers. People HATE SHOUTING on twitter. I know I can just retype them, but really.
What all caps. Twotter goes automatically from my Facebook account and I think the headlines are auto capped in the program we use here on the Blog. So cant control that. Its very rare that I use all CAPS in my comments that go from FB to twitter unless I really do mean to shout like PLEASE SIGN PETITION….