Students Rally After Benet Academy Rescinds Gay Coach's Job Offer

LISLE, IL — Students and other supporters gathered outside Benet Academy Monday afternoon to speak out after they say a woman's job offer was rescinded because the Catholic high school learned she was gay. Amanda Kammes, was set to be hired as Benet's girls lacrosse coach, but had the offer rescinded after listing her wife as an emergency contact on her onboarding paperwork, Shaw Media reports.

More than three dozen supporters held Pride flags and signs that bore such phrases as "honk for gay rights" and "gays love God," a photo in Daily Herald showed. According to Chicago Tribune, roughly 2,200 students, staff and faculty members and friends signed a petition to express their "dismay and anger" and extol Kammes's qualifications.

Kammes formerly served as head girls lacrosse coach at Montini Catholic High School, which is located in Lombard.

Patch reached out to Benet Academy for comment Monday afternoon, but had not received a response. Shaw Media shared the following statement from school officials, "Benet Academy respects the dignity of all human beings to follow their conscience and live lives of their choosing. Likewise, as a Catholic school, we employ individuals whose lives manifest the essential teachings of the Church in order to provide the education and faith formation of the young people entrusted to our care."

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