CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland’s gender policy continues to echo through parishes across Northeast Ohio, a week after leaders made public a controversial directive that has shaken many on both sides of the issue.
The policy restricts gender expression, including gender-affirming care and the use of pronouns different from those affiliated with a person’s biological sex. It also bans same-sex couples at events such as dances. It also requires church or school staff members to tell the parents of a child who might be transgender.
Overall, 79 elementary schools will be affected by the policy, as well as five high schools: Holy Name High School, Cleveland Central Catholic High School, Elyria Catholic High School, Lake Catholic High School and Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School.
Supporters of the directive say it is consistent with what the Catholic Church has always taught, and it has just been formalized.
“As I read the policies, there really aren’t any new or novel positions the Diocese of Cleveland assumes,” wrote the Rev. Michael Gurnick, the administrator of St. Malachi Parish in Cleveland, to parishioners last week. “They reflect what we have always held about human gender and sexuality. However, I certainly understand the shock and possible dismay for many within our local Catholic community.”
Supporters of the LGBTQ community blasted the measure, as they fear the harmful effects on children and others. Some have said the policy has highlighted the issues for some students.
For instance, former Holy Name teacher Beth Ryan said she veered away from the Catholic Church at the same time she left the school.
“There seemed to be a struggle not only with me at Holy Name, but with other teachers, guidance counselors and faculty members, struggling with being able to support our students fully,” she said.
“I’m speaking directly about the diocese and (Holy Name). I don’t know why they think that a policy eliminating or not letting kids have a seat at their table is ever what Jesus taught. It never was. And it’s just this invented idea.”
Monica Rusa first came out as a lesbian to close friends when she was a 15-year-old attending Holy Name. She said high school was life changing. She made lifelong friends and felt prepared for college after graduating in 2016. Recently, she finished pharmacy school and said she owes a lot of her success to her alma mater in Parma Heights.
But now, she said, she would never go back or send a child there because of the new rules the school must adhere to from the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.
“I am still too scared sometimes to admit to people that I am queer,” Rusa said. “It was instilled in me at school and in church to be quiet about it. That definitely follows you longer than just being in that building for four years.”
In an email, Holy Name President Shelbrey Blanc said the schools were asked to send all inquiries for comment to the diocese. The diocese declined to comment.
A former Lake Catholic High School student shared the same sentiment as Rusa, saying that he did not feel comfortable coming out as gay because of the way LGBTQ people were treated at school. He said he often heard classmates use derogatory language and homophobic slurs when referring to gay students. He said he is afraid for current students because he said he believes there is not enough protection for LGBTQ kids with the new policy.
The former student graduated in 2015 but did not come out until he was 21, despite knowing he was gay since he was 11.
“I was so nervous to come out because gay is seen as such a negative thing,” he said. “I felt so nervous to be who I was that I just ended up having a full-blown mental breakdown. "
Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to Lake Catholic administrators for comments.
In an earlier statement, the diocese said it “has taken existing guidance and practice in matters of sex, sexuality and gender identity and developed them into a formal policy, rooted in scripture and Church teaching, to help ensure that these matters are addressed in a consistent, pastorally sound and authentically Catholic manner across our diocesan and parish institutions and schools.”
A 46-year-old Catholic said in an email to cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer the directive reaffirms “our faith and beliefs.”
“Anyone who claims to be Catholic yet is somehow surprised or offended or ‘turned off’ was never a true Catholic to begin with,” the person said. “They can still be Christian, but not Catholic. And there is nothing wrong with what they want to believe. There are separate denominations of Christianity for that reason.”
Ryan, the former teacher at Holy Name, said she was grateful for her time at the school, which allowed her to grow as a teacher, but she said “things took a turn” when she had to sign a morality contract to keep her job.
Then-Bishop Richard Lennon signed off on the morality clause diocesan elementary schools in 2014. A year later, teachers from the five diocesan high schools had to sign the contract, as well.
“It was a very shameful moment for me every year to have to sign this piece of paper that said I would not support, you know, essentially any LGBTQ students, and I would not participate in any events that supported those things,” she said.
