Catholic school tells trans student his name will not be recognized

Principal Dave Worland says male trans student to be referred to as “she” (Photo: WISH-TV)

THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — The Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Indiana said ‘changing one’s gender is wrong’, so the transgender student at Cathedral High School who wishes to be addressed as a male will be face teachers and school staff who will not use his male name. Indeed, the school principal referred the student as “she” while talking with the media on the matter.

His parents approached the school last spring, and Principal Dave Worland, after consulting with the archdiocese, told them the new name and gender request was not going to happen.

Worland: “We wanted to make sure they [the student and his parents] would realize we still recognize her as a female, call her by the name she used when she enrolled as a freshman, and treat her throughout the day as a female student.”

Students at the school spoke out on his behalf, including taking the matter up on social media and meeting with the principal, but it does appears he will be called “she” at school until he graduates.

There are no other news reports with more details or comments from the parents.

[Pronoun trigger] School won’t call transgendered student by male name.

Principal Dave Worland says male trans student to be referred to as “she” (Photo: WISH-TV)

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Categories: Judicial, Courts, Transgender, Transsexual, Trans

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44 replies

  1. If I lived closer I would be picketing outside the school on his behalf.

  2. The principle of Catholic social teaching is the correct view of the human person. “Being in the image of God, the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give.”

    Surely failing to recognise this student in the way he choses goes against this principle?

  3. Also, believing humans are made in the image and likeness of God, Catholic doctrine teaches to respect all humans based on an inherent dignity. According to John Paul II, every human person “is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God.” Catholics oppose racism and other forms of discrimination.

    In 2007, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote:

    Catholic teaching about the dignity of life calls us… to prevent genocide and attacks against noncombatants; to oppose racism; and to overcome poverty and suffering. … We revere the lives of children in the womb, the lives of persons dying in war and from starvation, and indeed the lives of all human beings as children of God

    Therefore, those persons making these decisions go against these teachings and therefore against The Church

  4. It doesn’t say whether the name change was legal or not but if it was a legal name change the school has no choice but to call him by his male name, the student could bring suit against the school & would win!

    • I thought the same thing as soon as I read this. If he’s called by other than his legal name, he should present the Court order and remind the offending school official that they are in violation of a Court order.

  5. Well folks its this simple, a true transgendered person is living proof that God does make mistakes !

    • A transgender person is no more proof that God makes mistakes than a person born deaf or with a cleft palate or intersex or with webbed fingers or any number of conditions. We live in a fallen world, but God has a purpose for transgender persons to bless them and bless the world through them.

      • Thank you Lynette! I live with, and love, a transgender woman and if anyone called Her a mistake, they’d have ME to answer to. If for no other reason, and this is only my opinion, transgender people are here to show us all the joy of being true to yourself, of letting the beauty of that true self shine through. M’lady would probably laugh at me and tell me I’m making too big a deal out of it, but it’s just my way of looking at it.

    • I don’t believe I am a mistake.

    • I agree with the concept that there IS something medically wrong with transgender. I see transgender and my male identity as two separate aspects of me, but transgenderism is a mistake- a genetic DNA mutation that causes a LOT of severe physical, mental, and emotional problems. The people below me who say it’s not a mistake really mean to show their support. They just don’t understand. The transgenderism is a mistake, but the only people really saying that are those who held the original belief about it, and would “fix it” by making it worse, essentially forcing the person to live as the wrong gender. To counter this notion as false, people have said it’s NOT a mistake. My gender identity is not a mistake, by that body, that parasite attached to me, IS a mistake. The only reason I get away with this is because I am transgender. I view it as a disease, not an identity. I wish I could say “I have transgender” like saying “I have cancer”. In many ways I view it irrelevant to my gender as well. I am a boy, and having transgender does not negate that identity, it just makes it more difficult.

    • not a mistake – i was born with facial deformity. bec of it, i’ve learned lessons that others didn’t. it helped me bec far stronger and far more self-reliant than the typical member of mainstream society and that came in mighty handy when my own children – each of them wildly talented, extremely beautiful, and bonkers as a bucket of bolts – came along.

  6. “changing one’s gender is wrong” – of course, cos this is your decision and not everyones own, to live the way someone wants or feels to -.-
    gosh, some people

  7. What complete asshats! Get that child into another school where his uniqueness will be respected and honored. geez!

  8. I’m not religious, but I would advise this douche to read his own Bible, specifically Matthew 19:11-12: Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

    Many biblical scholars feel that this passage refers to both intersexed persons (“eunuchs who have been so from birth”) and transsexual persons (“eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs”). If this applies to men, it should applies to women, as the Church does in so many other instances: taking biblical passages directed at men and direct women to obey the same teaching. This douche’s own Bible tells him “Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.” However, Jesus does caution that
    “Not everyone can accept this word.” I guess he can’t accept the Word from his Savior. If that is so, he should find another cult to join.

    However, he’s a Catholic: so he may not have even read it.

    Note to religious community: Yes, I have read your book. Multiple times. I studied your cult and others like it for college credit at one time when I was young, seriously confused and sought advice from homophobic, misogynistic, Bronze and Iron age men. Thanks to that experience, I reject membership in your cult. My knowledge of its basis is the very reason I do so.
    Have a nice day.

  9. Take this school to court for discrimination. I sure as hell would. If they didnt want to treat me the way I wanted…..they would be paying a pretty penny for their beliefs. Then I would switch schools after that.

  10. Gee, I wonder if he is aware of that little piece of paper called The Constitution, not to mention the many civil rights and laws that he is blatantly breaking? And the Church wonders why the congregations are getting smaller.

  11. oh a bit like they dont recognise decades of child abuse …..like they dont recognise the conspiracy to aid escaped nazis……like they dont recognise the murder of countless indigenous american peoples…..like they dont recognise the murder of other “christian” sects, throughout europe…..like they dont recognise the fact that they worship idols (ephigy of the virgin mary)…….like they dont rercognise that they have no real hold over anyone and that thier thinking is retarded and holding up the world….???? Imean…..need I go on?

  12. havent finished…….if they think that student wil think…”oh well….best wash my face……put on my girls clothes do girly things and get on with my work”……They really are completely insane…he will probably get into trouble, and very likely…underachieve and end up on the end of a rope…if he makes it to adulthood he will hate catholics and god…..maybe “will” is a little stronge, but these are all very possible outcomes…..I just hope he has sensible parents…..Lets not forget the Roman catholic church is so called because the last roman emperor adopted st pauls church as the official church of the roman empire….the biggest bullies untill the second world war…..and that bloke who dresses up in the vatican wants to win back catholics?? is this really going to do it?….THIS BOILS MY BLOOD!!

  13. just glad he has the support of his schoolmates…..i hope together they can change things and protect him from the possible outcome i discribed above

  14. The Catholic church burned St Joan of Arc for refusing to wear a dress. Now they torture little children. They are so obsessed with genitals that they ignore his soul.

    • the catholic church didn’t – that would be the english government. with the assistance of certain members of the french court and, of course, the church (it’s a popular hobby with rome, meddling in politics). just like jesus, she was a political embarrassment.

  15. If a teacher consistently called a boy in his/her class a girl s/he would be sacked or prosecuted, in the UK s/he would be struck off. Yet the Catholic church can get away with it if the boy is trans. Appalling.

    BTW it is also against the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which unfortunately the US has not signed up to (along with Somalia).

  16. Why can’t this student attend a public school?

    • Or another private school? This student shouldn’t have to face this crap, and there are at least 5 or 6 other private schools in that area. Guerin Catholic and Cathedral are the big bigot schools, while there is Brebeuf Jesuit that is much more accepting. No one should have to deal with this crap.

  17. Indiana recognizes legal gender change. Sounds to me like the school’s administration is acting in contempt of civil law.

  18. Every one deserves to be respected and treated with dignity and civility!

  19. I really hate to say this, but the school is right on this one. First of all, it is a private school and not a public school. They are allowed to do what they want as long as it is in the confines of the law. They had to know that a Catholic school wouldn’t support such a thing.

  20. I have an idea. Why not remove said trans child from catholic school and stop continuing to fund and foster a religion that promotes bigotry, takes women’s choices away, promotes the archaic belief of abstinence over condoms with HIV and AIDS rampant, codones child abuse, etc.

  21. My response to the student: stay strong. You are amazing.

    From a Catholic transguy.

  22. Who cares what the Church thinks? They have NO moral authority anymore!

  23. Okay one thing bothers me about this: The trans student is going to a catholic school. I don’t see nything wrong with a catholic school promoting catholic beliefs. Yes it’s a little mean to the student, cause they aren’t allowing him to be the way he feels (knows) he is, but…it’s a catholic school…not a public school…

  24. Tis article is sufficiently vague that I would have to be a mindless lemming to react to it in any way. Journalism is dead..or at least impotent.

  25. Sarah Rutherford
    Senior Counsellor and Coordinator
    South Australian Transsexual Support

    I support the right of transgender people to express themselves in whatever way they decide is relevant to them. Here, such an action by a school of any persuasion would be regarded as discriminatory and be a criminal act. It is time that people in all walks of life accept that you cannot cling to archaic rules and ideals just to support an irrational bias or prejudice. We are moving into the future now with such speed and technology and education, that will inevitably see religion become obsolete and irrelevant to human kind and rational thinking. Individuals own their bodies, not organisations and by their own ignorance and idealism will such organisations destroy themselves among free thinking and educated people.

    Sarah
    15/10/12

Trackbacks

  1. Readers’ Top 12 Transgender Stories of 2012 – Huffington Post | LGBT Indonesia
  2. Readers’ Top 12 Transgender Stories of 2012 « Women Born Transsexual

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