Protesters Support Gay Catholic Teacher Fired for 'Unconventional' Pregnancy on the Streets and Online

St. Regis Catholic Church parishioners arriving at and leaving mass Sunday were greeted by demonstrators, who want Marion High School to adopt polices that are inclusive of LGBT students and staff. (Screenshot: WJBK video)

_______________

Demonstrators marched and carried signs Sunday in front of the Bloomfield Hills Catholic high school where a gay teacher who was fired for her “unconventional pregancy,” and supporters are prodding school administrators to be more inclusive of LGBT staff and students in an online petition.

Barbara Webb, 33, was fired in August after she told her bosses at Marian High School that she was pregnant. A teacher at the school for nearly a decade, she declined to resign and sign a confidential settlement agreement, and instead announced she had been fired on Facebook, igniting a firestorm of controversy.

More than 100 people lined Lasher Road in front of Marian High School, where Webb had been a popular chemistry and coached, during a two-hour rally Sunday, the Detroit Free Press reports.

A 2002 Marian graduate, Amanda Ruud McVety, 29, of Birmingham, a 2002 Marian alum, said administrators’ decision to fire Webb show a lack of appreciation for the value of diversity.

Tell Us:

• Should the Roman Catholic Church become more inclusive of LGBT individuals?

“It’s time to show that – through actions and through words,” McVety, on of the rally’s co-founders, said. “It’s time we look at (homosexuals) as equals and not shame them for who they are.”

One of the demonstrators said Marian claims to champion human rights and other social justice issues, but failed to demonstrate its principles in Webb’s case.

“Marian teaches us about social justice in profound ways,” Amber Mazza Cunnings of Farmington Hills, a 2001 Marian graduate, told the Free Press. “This is a human rights issue. There’s a mother and a child involved. (Standing up for them) is what we were taught to do.”

The protest was planned to coincide with masses at nearby St. Regis Catholic Church for maximum exposure during an historic time for the Roman Catholic Church as Pope Francis has ushered in a new era of openness toward LGBT individuals.

A petition on change.org notes the Vatican’s new tone, citing the pontiff’s landmark September 2013 statement:

“A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: “Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?” We must always consider the person.

Related:

• 6th Circuit’s Marathon Gay Marriage Hearing Signals Historic Shift
• Judge Asked to Force Michigan to Recognize Legal Same-Sex Marriages
• ‘It Just Feels Like Arbitrary Discrimination’: Legally Married Lesbian Couple Told to Get Court Order for Name Changes

The petition had about 800 signatures by Monday evening. It states:

“We ask that you change your policies around LGBT issues for staff and students. We want to know that all people associated with Marian will have a fair chance at success and happiness in their life no matter what sexual orientation they are. We would like to see a student LGBT group allowed at Marian as an established safe place for people who need it. We would like an official public apology to Barb Webb and all of the students and staff who have been shamed, ostracized, and made to feel ‘less than’ for how they simply want to express love in their life.

“Do you see how much the firing of Barb Webb has hurt the Marian Community? It is no longer acceptable that a staff ‘morality clause’ be used in order to treat a human immorally. Being ‘socially just’ means that you are willing to change and make changes to uphold the morals and values needed to give humans their human rights and to love everyone as Jesus Christ would have.

“This is a teaching moment. The country is now watching. Marian it is time to make a change! We can make history by being the first Catholic High School to find a middle ground by treating all Marian students as equals. Let that be Marian’s legacy.

“We are Marian. Hear us. See us. Take action. Make us proud.”

Webb said previously that she was fired because of the school’s morality clause, which worked like the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but “if you publicly had some type of actions that were contradictory to Catholic teachings, then there would be an issue.”

“You can’t hide a pregnancy from the public,” she said, adding “that is why I was terminated.”

Webb and her spouse, Kristen Lasecki, have been together nearly six years and were legally married two years ago in Windsor. A teacher at the school for nearly a decade, Webb told school administrators in July that she was pregnant. She was fired in August.

Message: Change, or Find New Sources for Donations

Some of the protesters carrying signs in front of the school Sunday said they’ll withhold charitable donations if the school doesn’t adopt more inclusive policies, WJBK, Channel 2, reports.

Webb said the support shows that people have used an individual case to make a larger statement about discrimination.

“It’s not about me anymore,” she said. “Really, it never was. It’s time for the students at Marian to have an outlet. There’s no (Gay-Straight Alliance) club for students to express themselves. It’s time to change the outlook for the future.”

Another online public square has been established with the “I Stand with Barb Webb” Facebook page, which had about 3,800 members by Monday evening.

Webb and her spouse, Kristen Lasecki, have been together nearly six years and were legally married two years ago in Windsor. A teacher at the school for nearly a decade, Webb told school administrators in July that she was pregnant.

The school district has declined to discuss Webb’s termination with the media, saying it’s a personnel matter. Webb has said that she’s not interested in getting her job back, and will seek a position where diversity is valued.