Transcript SEXUALITY: What’s it all about?

SAFE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS:
Sexual Orientation and Gender
Identity Challenges
Presented by
Rev. James Schexnayder
NACDLGM
[email protected]
Sr. Jane Meyer, O.P.
St. Agnes Academy
[email protected]
The Gospel demands that we affirm
the dignity and respond to the needs
of all God’s people.
“From the first moment that a student sets foot
in a Catholic school, he or she ought to have
the impression of entering a new environment,
one illuminated by the light of faith, having its
own unique characteristics.”
Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education
The Vatican Congregation for
Catholic Education instructs those
working in Catholic education that
they must welcome gay and lesbian
students (1982)
“Educationally, homosexuality cannot and
ought not to be skirted or ignored. The topic
must be faced in all objectivity by the pupil
and the educator when the case presents
itself.”
Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education,
1983
Catholic High Schools
 Do they present the whole message of the
Church regarding the dignity and worth of gay
and lesbian people?
 Do they present any message at all, or are
they silent on the topic?
Our awakening at St. Agnes

(clip #1)
http://www.st-agnes.org/html/presentation1.avi
Not a single issue.
 Rooted in Church Teachings on human
sexuality.
 Based on the demands of the Gospel to
affirm the dignity and respond to the needs
of all God’s people.

Chastity
The virtue of living out one’s
sexuality according to God’s will
According to vocational lifestyle or
sexual orientation, chastity is lived out
differently
All are called to be chaste
Public display of affection (PDA)
Students identifying themselves openly
as lesbians
Potential of other non-lesbian students
being drawn into the lesbian orientation
The potential problem of the lesbian
issue having a negative impact on the
school
SAA Policies/Catholic Teaching
Respect all people.
It’s okay to disclose gay
orientation in an appropriate
manner. Seek guidance first.
It’s okay to claim symbols related to gay
orientation because the orientation is not
sinful.
It’s not okay to use symbols or slogans to
promote immoral behavior or to act
contrary to Church teaching.
Gay youth turning away
from the Church
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•
Time after time, students who come forward tell us that they
feel that they cannot be gay and also be Catholic.
It's a terrible loss of culture, of spiritual foundation, of
family.
– If you can look around your church and not see any out gay people,
then you know you have a problem.
– If you can look around your school and see no comfortably out
students, you know you have a problem.
•
These members of the Catholic community have gotten a
clear and ongoing message that they aren't welcome, that
no one is willing to work with them to grapple with the
special issues their sexuality brings to their place in the
church.
Facts about Gay Youth
• 80% of gay/lesbian/bisexual youth report
verbal abuse almost daily
• 44% report threats of attack
• 17% have been assaulted
• 97% of the time, teachers do not correct antigay slurs
• 30% of all successful suicides
• Film clip from The Truth About Jane
(clip #2) http://www.st-agnes.org/html/presentation2.avi
USCCB
Matthew Shepard
What is it in our society that
perpetuates the attitudes that
engenders this violence?
Could the young men who
committed this crime view
Matthew Shepard as a fellow
human being?
Two women, girlfriends of
the perpetrators, stood and
watched…
Have you ever stood by and
watched someone be
harassed, insulted or hurt?
Why didn’t these women get involved?
We need a strong, safe culture …
The culture of the
school greatly affects
how gay and lesbian
students integrate with
the school.
• Church’s teaching on gay sexuality
• The faculty’s role in building a culture of love
and welcome to all of its members
• How gay youth come to know and deal with
their orientation
• Resources available to help gay students
• Resources available to help all people
understand the issue
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Scenarios that enable faculty to role-play issues
that have occurred in our school
Student testimonials of how it has felt for them as
sexual minority youth in our school
Films that depict key issues faculty have to face
– Straight from the Heart
– It’s Elementary (film clip #3)
http://www.st-agnes.org/html/presentation3.avi
– The Laramie Project
– GLSEN lunchbox (a video with various film clips)
“First and foremost, we support modeling
and teaching respect for every human
person, regardless of sexual
orientation.”
USCC, 1991
Sexuality instruction in Health classes and in
Theology classes, Owning Up in speech classes.
 Encouragement of teachers across the
curriculum to address issues related to gay and
lesbian people.

Safe Teacher Program
The Safe Teacher program is founded on the idea
that any institution whose mission is to educate
young people should have a group of adults
available to whom these young people can come
when they are facing a crisis. The primary areas
of crises we identify in the Safe Teacher program
are those areas that target youth for their
minority status or their outsider status, such as
their ethnicity, their sexual minority status, and
their status as girls.
Safe
Teacher
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More than half of our faculty have joined the Safe Teacher
program.
Each year, new members join the program.
› They go through a five-session training with our Safe
Teacher coordinator, focusing on crisis issues in general,
healing racism, healing sexism and healing homophobia.
› For each topic, teachers role-play scenarios, share stories,
enter dialogue and work through their questions and
concerns about being safe teachers.
Safe Teachers receive a handbook with readings and resources.
Sponsoring a Diversity Club
The Diversity Club
 Is dedicated to cultivating a diversity of
consciousness among the St. Agnes student
body.
 We define diversity of consciousness as a
mindset that embraces cultural diversity in all
its forms.
 We focus particularly on healing racism and
homophobia projects.
Organizing a Faculty Solidarity Committee
Mission: To devise ways to enhance the diversity
of SAA in its organization, its curriculum, and
its activities. Diversity, in our context, means
doing work on healing racism, sexism, and
homophobia, as well as building a general
ethos of acceptance, compassion and empathy
with those who are different from the norm.
Diversity Week
• Each year we choose a different theme.
oHealing Racism, Sexism and Homophobia,
Solidarity with People in Prison, Understanding
Islam, Immigration, Solidarity with People
Living with Disabilities.
• We invite keynote speakers:
oMichael Fowlin, www.michaelfowlin.com
• We show films:
oVideo: A Place at the Table (Southern Poverty
Law Center)
http://www.st-agnes.org/html/presentationPlace.avi
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We have breakout Sessions led by members of
the St. Agnes and larger Houston communities.
We celebrate our diversity as a community
o International Food Festival
o Multicultural entertainment
o Prayer and commissioning
Organizing Activities to Raise
Awareness of Gay Sexuality Issues
National Coming Out Day (October 11)
o A commemoration of Matthew Shepard’s
death and all hate crimes against gays.
 Day of Silence (April 22)
o A day to understand the silence experienced
by gay youth.
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Ally Week (October 15-21)
o Included a day devoted to the theme “That’s so Gay is Not
Okay!” with posters around the school.
o Included buttons that student swore with the slogan above,
also “Ally Week” and also “Straight, Not Narrow”
o All posters and fliers included the full Church Teaching on gay
sexuality.
Panel Discussions
o Students, both straight and gay, talk about their own
experiences in healing homophobia.
• Be brave
• Be prudent
• Be clear
• Be critical
 What is the
project’s purpose?
 Will it hurt or
help the cause?
Diversity Calendar
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An integrated approach
Inclusion of several key social justice issues
Community will learn key ideas that transfer from one
issue to the next.
Ongoing communication with all elements of the
community.
Be aware of the terms we use (i.e. Day of Silence and
Ally Week)
o We adapt what we do at our school to Church
teachings.
o The national effort to heal homophobia has a scope
that sometimes falls outside of Church teachings.
Sexuality…
is about who you are.
Sexual Activity…
is about what you CHOOSE to do.
Stereotypes
• Gay persons are attracted to ALL samesex persons.
• Gay persons are sexually promiscuous or
pedophiles.
Sexual Orientation
• Not chosen … discovered.
• Refers to one’s predominant emotional and sexual
attraction
• Three orientations:
o Heterosexual  to opposite gender
o Homosexual  to same gender
o Bisexual  to both
Sexual Orientation
• Not fundamentally or primarily a
tendency toward acts
• Psychosexual attraction toward
particular persons
• A dimension of one’s personality
Orientation vs. Inclination/Preference
With these definitions in mind, it’s clear that sexual
orientation is a far different word from the words
that were used in the past—inclination or preference.
• The American Psychological Association has ruled that
sexual orientation is not changed by psycho-therapy
and that therapies intended to change it are usually
detrimental to the psychological health of the youth.
•
Sexuality as a Continuum
Heterosexual
Gay Sexuality
Gay Sexuality
A person who sustains a
PREDOMINANT, PERSISTENT,
psychosexual, physical, and
emotional attraction to
the same sex.
Societal Norms
Student is ridiculed
because doesn’t fit norms.
Film clip #4
http://www.st-agnes.org/html/presentation4.avi
Ways to Address Sexual
Orientation in the Classroom
• Break the silence! Don’t be afraid to use the
words gay, lesbian, and bisexual.
• Assume that 4 -10% of your students are
gay/lesbian - 1 to 3 in a class of 30.
• Challenge put-downs and homophobia.
• Be prepared for the teachable moments.
• Draw on current events.
Gay Faculty Members
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Model how to follow church teachings for gay
students.
Provide valuable inside sources of information
for leaders who want to improve the safety of
the school environment.
Must be provided with clear guidelines for
behavior and talk with student about their own
sexual orientation.
Must feel safe. (film clip #5)
http://www.st-agnes.org/html/presentation5.avi
Are all students safe in your school?
Students and parents are counting
on us to do something to protect
all children in our schools.
(film clip #6)
http://www.st-agnes.org/html/presentation6.avi
GLBT students need allies
and count on them to
address harassment at
school!
“It is not sufficient only to
avoid unjust discrimination.
Homosexual persons ‘must
be accepted with respect,
compassion and sensitivity.”
Catechism of the
Catholic Church, #2358 qtd. in
Always our Children, USCCB
“The Catholic Church proclaims that
human life is sacred and that the dignity
of the human person is the foundation of
a moral vision for society. We believe
that every person is precious . . . And that
the measure of every institution is
whether it threatens or enhances the life
and dignity of the human person.”
USCCB, 1999
“The teaching of the Church makes it clear
that the fundamental human rights of
homosexual persons must be defended
and that all of us must strive to eliminate
any form of injustice, oppression, or
violence against them.”
Always our Children, USCCB
 Your
convictions
 Your love of kids
 Church Teaching
 The support of your team
 The strength of God and the
angels!
• www.glsen.org
• A Place at the Table, (video) Southern
Poverty Law Center
• Homosexuality, Catholic Teaching and
Pastoral Practice, Gerald D. Coleman, S.S.
• Being Gay and Lesbian in a Catholic High
School, Beyond the Uniform, Michael Maher
Jr., PhD
• Free Your Mind, Ellen Bass, Kate
Haufman
• Straight from the Heart, (video)
• It’s Elementary, (video)
• www.st-agnes.org, click “About SAA,”
click “Sexuality Program”
• Creating Safe Environments for LGBT
Students: A Catholic Schools Perspective,
Ed. Michael J. Bayly, 2007.
• www.Michaelfowlin.com
If you have any questions,
feel free to contact me at
[email protected]