Teacher Terminated From School for Being a Married Lesbian

by Michael Jones · 2010-09-02 19:10:00 UTC
Topics:

Christine Judd was a darn good at her job. Having worked for Cathedral High School in Springfield, Massachusetts for 12 years, Judd's career took off, from starting off as a science teacher in 1998, moving onward to become the Dean of Students and then an athletic director three years ago.

Heck, even on the school's Web site, Judd is listed as "one of the key members of the faculty and staff who serve as positive role models for the students."

This is a good teacher, a good role model for kids, and a good athletic director. But as the 2010-2011 school year starts, Judd won't be working at Cathedral High School any more. Why? Because the Catholic Diocese of Springfield has a problem with the fact that Judd married a woman last month.

"I was given a choice of termination or resignation,” Judd said. “I’m hurt."

You know who else is hurt by this? The students at Cathedral High School who for 12 years have had a passionate and good teacher to work with. Not anymore. And solely because she's a married lesbian.

As Masslive.com reports, Judd said that she's saddened that she's being removed from her position.

"I was hoping that my loyalty, my professionalism the last 12 years would supersede the current hypocrisy that has already been shown with the Diocese of Springfield," Judd said, adding that "this was a diocesan decision," meaning that the institutional Church in Springfield couldn't stomach the fact that a school employee could love someone of the same gender.

Judd hits the nail on the head here when she uses the word hypocrisy. Is the school firing employees who use birth control? Because that's technically against Catholic teaching. What about teachers and school employees who get divorced? Because that too is against Church teaching.

What a tragedy. Yes, church policy gives them the right to do this. But that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. A valued teacher, prized on the staff and commended for her outstanding leadership, told that she can no longer teach because she's a lesbian.

The Church is really batting a thousand here. They tell children of gay parents that they can't enroll in school. And now they tell a good teacher that she's not qualified to teach in their schools, just because she's gay.

Adding a bit of insult to injury, the spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield said that the diocese has nothing but kind words for Judd.

"We are certainly thankful to Ms Judd for her past service at Cathedral High School and wish her the best in the future,” diocesan spokesman Mark Dupont said.

Nothing says "thank you" quite like a forced termination, right? What a shame for the students and staff at Cathedral High School.

Photo credit: skin - ubx

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Cornell Newspaper: Being Gay Just Like an Eating Disorder?
NEXT STORY:
Bullied high schooler convinces MPAA to change ‘Bully’ rating to “PG-13”

COMMENTS (25)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.