St. Paul Catholic High School added a gender identity policy to its handbook. Alumni are asking for it to be removed, calling it ‘transphobic’ and ‘grossly harmful’
More than 250 alumni of St. Paul Catholic High School in Bristol are asking school leaders to remove a gender identity policy added to the 2021-2022 student handbook, calling the language “transphobic” and “grossly harmful to past, present and future students.”
In an open letter, first reported by The Bristol Press, the alumni take issue with a handbook passage that states: “God made male and female in His image and likeness. He made every child exactly as He intended.”
“Accordingly, and consistent with Archdiocesan OEEC policy,” the section continues, “St. Paul Catholic High School shall accept and relate to students and all members of the school community, for the duration of their years in attendance at St. Paul, according to their God-given, biological sex as male or female consistent with the complementary nature of each, and maintain appropriate distinctions between males and females especially in issues of facilities use, athletic teams, uniforms and nomenclature.”
The handbook also says the school “shall not sponsor, facilitate, or host such organizations, events, or activities that would promote views contrary to Catholic doctrine regarding human sexuality and gender, either on or off campus, or thorough social media,” and a “pastoral approach consistent with Catholic Church teachings must be used in addressing matters of gender, including transgenderism, and gender dysphoria.”
Kindeya Chiaro, a 2013 graduate and member of the LGBTQ+ community who wrote the alumni letter in September, said those who signed it “of course understand St. Paul is a Catholic school and it needs to act in accordance with teachings of the Catholic Church.”
“But I think it is possible to be in alignment with Catholicism while still creating a safe and welcoming environment for all students,” she said. “What we’re hoping St. Paul ... understand[s] is not everything has to be strictly black and white, and people often live at intersections: A student can be Catholic and nonbinary, a student can be Christian and trans.”
In a response statement, St. Paul President and Chief Administrator Cary Dupont said all students enrolled in the school are “treated with the love, respect and compassion they deserve.”
“We aim to educate and nurture the whole person – mind, body and spirit. We accept and relate to all members of our school community, for the duration of their years in attendance, according to their God-given biological sex consistent with Catholic doctrine and Archdiocesan policy,” he said.
Fr. Michael Whyte, the Archdiocese of Hartford Vicar for Education, Evangelization and Catechesis released a similar statement, adding: “As Catholics, we believe God has created every human person out of love, exactly as He intended, and our schools follow Catholic doctrine regarding human sexuality and gender.”
In 2017, the state education department said Connecticut and federal laws require public schools to “treat transgender students according to their gender identity and expression, including when accessing restroom and locker room facilities.”
State guidance also says: “Students have the right to be addressed by a name and pronoun that the student prefers and corresponds to their gender identity even if education records or identification documents indicate a different name or sex.”
But these rules do not apply to St. Paul or other Catholic schools, explained ACLU of Connecticut Legal Director Dan Barrett.
“This is what I would call, ‘awful but lawful,’” said the lawyer. “We have a general purpose statute in Connecticut that guarantees certain equal access [for] school children, but it doesn’t apply to parochial schools.”
If a public school instituted the same policy, “you’d have a boatload of problems ... but because [St. Paul] is a parochial school, the equal access statute doesn’t apply,” Barrett said.
Amanda Blanco can be reached at ablanco@courant.com.
