Students Protest Cleveland Bishop’s Transgender-Negative Policy

Students and alumni from Catholic schools in Cleveland have continued protests against a new diocesan policy restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ students and staff.

Dozens of people protested outside the Cleveland Public Auditorium on November 1st while inside the diocese’s Bishop Edward Malesic led a Eucharistic Revival Rally and Mass. Malesic requested that all Catholic high schoolers attend the event.

Earlier this fall, the bishop issued the diocese’s gender policy, which prohibits students and staff from receiving gender-affirming care and using chosen pronouns. The policy also requires educators to inform a child’s parents if the child is believed to be transgender, reported Cleveland.com.

Many students and alumni consider the new policy harmful to the LGBTQ+ community. Samantha Platek, the mother of four children who attended Catholic high schools, participated in the recent protest. Platek, one of whose children identifies as transgender/nonbinary, believes that the policy takes autonomy away from parents. She stated:

“‘The first thing they teach you, when you have a child in Catholic schools is that the parent is the first teacher and the most important teacher, and the schools take a secondary role. And I think they should just continue with that policy. Parents know their children and love their children and love them as they are. And they shouldn’t get in the way of that, and they should let parents love their children. They can learn a lot from us.'”

Platek’s nonbinary child, Gill, who now works for an LGBTQ+ nonprofit, warned about the policy’s possible negative impact in an appeal for it to be rescinded:

“‘I heard about the policy, and it broke my heart. Growing up in Catholic schools, those rules were kind of unwritten. And now they are explicitly written, and they are going to affect queer and trans youths’ mental health. The policies are going to increase suicides among LGBT youth in Cleveland. . .It needs to be taken down. If (the diocese) truly cares about God’s children, they will take it down.'”

Megan O’Brien, a student at St. Joseph Academy, also participated in the protest. St. Joseph Academy is independent from the diocese, as it is sponsored by the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, and has decided not follow the gender policy, Still, O’Brien believes that the new policy is “teaching heterosexual and cisgender children to exclude others,” which ultimately fosters “hatred.” She added:

“‘We’re out here because we have the privilege to be a voice for kids who cannot speak up for themselves who are really devastated by this policy. . .This goes against what the Congregation of Saint Joseph teaches us … that we should serve the dear neighbor.'”

In addition to students, parents, and alumni at Catholic schools, the faithful in the wider Cleveland area have been vocal in their criticism of the new policy.

Fr. Jim Sheil, a retired Cleveland diocesan priest, wrote in an op-ed about the new policy being problematic. He states that the policy contradicts Pope Francis’ affirming stance toward LGBTQ+ folks, and that there is no evidence that the diocese consulted LGBTQ+ people or their family members in developing the policy. Sheil notes that while it is often “easier to talk about our LGBTQ sisters and brothers than to talk with them,” it is unethical to make policies without consulting the impacted community. He writes:

“‘A good way to ruin a person is to tell a child, “You are wrong, and I will not accept you unless you change into what I tell you to be, because I know who you have to be much more than you do.”

“‘We don’t get to decide who is or who is not an image of God, or make rules that others have to follow, because each of us is a unique image of God — even, or especially, people we don’t understand, who make us uncomfortable, or whom we fear, or just do not like.'”

—Sarah Cassidy (she/her), New Ways Ministry, November 30, 2023