If you're unfamiliar with the story, on July 3rd, Margie Winters received a letter from Waldron Mercy Academy informing her that she was being let go. For eight years, Margie Winters had been a beloved teacher at Waldron Mercy in Merion Station, PA, just outside Philadelphia. After she was fired, friends and family, parents of her students and Margie's colleagues, quickly created a Facebook page declaring "We stand with Margie Winters."
Margie, a lesbian wed to her loving partner, was told she was being fired because of her relationship. Why wouldn't any reasonable member of the LGBT community stand with Margie?
Because Waldron Mercy is a Catholic school.
It's difficult, even contentious, to draw a line when it comes to supporting those in our community. But without a line, our causes begin to unravel. Margie's dedication to Waldron Mercy, and especially her Catholic faith, is at odds with her inclusion in the LGBT community, as well as those who stand with her as a perceived sister in our fight for equality. Margie didn't choose to be a lesbian but she did choose to be a Catholic, to teach the principles of Catholicism at Waldron Mercy.
This is a church that teaches that same-sex marriage is wrong, that Waldron Mercy's LGBT students - likely far more confused than those in the secular school systems - are flawed. Margie chose to alienate her brothers and sisters in the LGBT community by claiming allegiance to the Catholic faith.
This is where we need to draw a line. We are a vast and diverse community, and not every instance of apparent marginalization is unjust. We aren't all good people.
As a secular person, it's hard for me to muster any more sympathy for those discriminated against by their church than I can for those fleeing Scientology. The atheist in me and the agnostic in many others surfaces with an objective, obvious, and a rational, "You knew what you were getting yourself into."
While Margie's position in the church, both as a follower and a religious educator, may have been hypocritical, I am by no means siding with the Catholic church. Should Margie should have been fired? Well, a more logical question would be to ask why Margie was working at Waldron Mercy in the first place. Or why a lesbian married to her loving partner would choose to embrace a religion that declares her love a sin.
There are changes taking place in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis has quickly become the "People's Pope," and his fan base is growing. But his most evolved position on homosexuality is simply "who am I to judge?" and his stance on same-sex marriage is firm. In short, this is not the LGBT community's religion.
What's upsetting about Margie's situation is not that a respected teacher was fired, but that so many within the LGBT community have blindly run to her side without questioning her faith in Catholicism. Demanding a place for Margie at Waldron Mercy demands legitimacy in the Catholic Church. And while such demands will never be met short of a decree handed down from the Vatican, the Catholic faith is not one that deserves legitimization. It deserves ridicule and scrutiny.
Changes within the church are not made by parishioners. No one joins a 2000 year old religion with the intent of making change. Ancient religions are made to be followed, not challenged. Why any self-respecting member of the LGBT community would intentionally choose to join or remain in such a place is mind boggling. It's hypocritical to an institution already riddled with hypocrisy, and it backhandedly slaps the LGBT community in the face.
If you truly want to Stand with Margie, stand beside the thousands of LGBT members who've been cast out of their families in the name of their religions, the homeless kids looking for a bed, not a pew.
I've always thought that those in the LGBT community had a unique advantage. While so many coast through life on pre-made plans, formerly religious members of the LGBT community have had the unfortunate luxury of seeing their faiths exposed for what they really are.
Margie likely saw this long ago and chose to remain in a church that openly regarded her lifestyle sinful. Meanwhile most of us are free to embrace unique paths in life, to challenge absurd notions of theology, and question their mythology from the objective position of exile. We're free to embrace unadulterated science and academia, not a 21st Century education shoehorned into books millennia old.
Being an outcast is truly liberating.
For years, the religious have argued that same-sex marriage would ultimately end at the altar. By demanding inclusion in a church that doesn't accept us only plays into their hands. Today we're asking the State to force Waldron Mercy to reinstate Margie Winters. What will we be demanding tomorrow?
We are in a rare position to flex a dynamic arm. To show that equality is as much about personal choices and self worth as it is about acceptance. Demanding legislation to change the Catholic Church's EOE standards doesn't change its heart. That's like demanding an apology from a bigoted celebrity. It's meaningless, and we should be showcasing just how meaningless this church is to the LGBT community, not demanding a place beside its relics.
The only way to Stand on the side of good at Waldron Mercy is to stand against the Academy, its employees and employers, and the leaders that rule it. The Catholic church is not a democracy, it is a kingdom. We should not be challenging it or asking for a place within its walls, but questioning its existence, asking why counties subsidize their programs, and why any self-respecting member of the LGBT community would ever want to be a part.
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