Another Canadian Catholic Teen Speaks Out for Equality

In Canada it seems that Catholic school teenagers are leading the struggle for LGBT equality in church institutions.

Last week, we reported the case of an 11th-grader in Yukon province who successfully lobbied to have a bishops’ document removed from his Catholic high school’s website because it contained pastorally harmful terms to describe lesbian and gay people.

This week, we have the case of a Saskatchewan 11th-grader who is trying to form a gay-straight alliance in her Catholic high school, but meeting with roadblocks from the administration.  Halla Scott, a student at LeBoldus High School, Regina, said that when she proposed the idea, she met with resistance.  The CBC.ca reports:

“She said a guidance counsellor suggested her idea might go against Catholic values.

” ‘It’s funny … the main Catholic value is to treat your neighbour as you want to be treated,’ she said. ‘If that’s true, wouldn’t you want to treat your LBGTQ [lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, queer] neighbour the same way as you’d like to be treated?’ ”

“She said if the group got the green light to proceed, students would support it.

” ‘It would provide support to LGBTQ students in the school and also, you know, help squash some stereotypes that some people hold about students that identify that way,’ she said.”

If Scott succeeds, it will be the first gay-straight alliance in a Saskatchewan Catholic school.

One lesson to be learned from these stories is that the next generation of Catholics seem willing to continue to the struggle for LGBT equality in church institutions.  They have a lot more support in that struggle than previous generations have had, and may meet with much greater success.  The future looks bright.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry