Hundreds of Portland area families whose children attend Catholic schools are protesting western Oregon Archbishop Alexander Sample’s guidance that schools under the church’s umbrella not recognize transgender and nonbinary students’ pronouns and identities. Sample quietly released the 17-page document of recommendation in January and not a mandate for the 41 archdiocesan schools. But as the school year drew to a close, teachers and families said some schools, including St. Rose School in Northeast Portland, began to treat the recommendations as requirements, asking faculty members to pledge that they would uphold them. Rumors began to fly that more schools would be required to follow suit by the next school year and that teachers who left, would not be welcome at other schools in the system. Dozens of students responded by refusing to attend Mass and wearing pins and shirts in support of transgender rights. By the end of the year, many families decided not to return in September.
The longtime principals of both All Saints K-8 School and The Madeleine School, both in Northeast Portland, also resigned. If families in liberal Portland begin withdrawing their children because of the guidelines, it will be a significant financial hit for the schools following Sample’s steps. #Trans Rights