A Catholic school district in Massachusetts has ordered its 5,000 students to use the names and pronouns they used at birth in the latest clash between the church and radical gender ideology.
The Worcester diocese ruling, approved by Bishop Robert McManus, will affect 21 schools in and around the central Massachusetts town and will take effect when students return to class for the fall semester.
Under the new guidelines, students must behave in a manner “consistent with their biological sex,” including the restrooms they use and the sports teams they compete for.
David Perda, superintendent of Catholic schools for the diocese, said some schools had already introduced regulations, but that “individual situations” had “underscored the need for a single policy that clearly enshrines the teachings of the Church.”
Bishop Robert McManus says students should behave in accordance with their biological sex
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Whether students can change their names or identities in class has become a hot topic that is divisive among progressives and conservatives. Massachusetts and other leftist states have been much more tolerant of gender fluidity.
According to the new guidelines, released Aug. 15, bullying, harassment or violence against students because of their gender, sexual orientation or gender identity “will not be tolerated.”
But, they continue, a student’s biological sex takes precedence over any chosen identity.
That includes “school athletics; school-sponsored dances; clothing and uniform policy; the use of changing rooms, showers, changing rooms and bathrooms, titles, names and pronouns; and official school documents.’
For names and pronouns, there may be “rare exceptions, only to a limited extent, on a case-by-case basis,” at the discretion of a school’s principal.
The rules also call for “modesty in language, appearance, dress and behavior” and also prohibit expressions of same-sex attraction that cause “confusion or distraction” at school.
The policy is linked to Pope Francis, who has spoken repeatedly about the dangers of the new wave gender ideology and how it blurs the distinction between men and women.
It refers to the pope’s statements that we should not “accept ideologies that try to unravel the inseparable aspects of reality.”
The pope has also said that children who identify as transgender should be helped to “accept their own bodies as they were created.”
The diocese posted its new policy online this month
“We must always respect the sacred dignity of each individual, but that does not mean that the Church must accept the confused notions of secular gender ideology,” the diocese’s statement read.
The policy comes as the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights has left some onlookers confused.
Pope Francis has said that homosexuality is ‘not a crime’, but it is also a ‘sin’.
LGBT groups in Worcester have criticized the bishop’s decision.
Joshua Croke, head of the nonprofit organization Love Your Labels, called it “harmful” by encouraging students to “stay in the closet” and feel ashamed.
Croke told The New York Times that he has “a long history of being anti-LGBTQ.” practices and viewpoints.’
Last year, Bishop McManus sparked controversy when he ordered a predominantly black Catholic high school in Worcester to take down the Black Lives Matter and Pride flags.
Saint Paul’s Cathedral in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts
When the school refused, Bishop McManus declared that the school was no longer Catholic.
The Massachusetts row comes before the start of a new school year that will see teachers, parents and students deal with gender, identity and sexuality in schools on the front lines of America’s culture wars between liberals and conservatives.
Kansas, North Dakota and Wyoming have passed new laws banning transgender girls from playing on girls’ teams in their elementary schools.
A Missouri law takes effect at the end of this month, bringing the number of states with restrictions to 23.
North Carolina could issue a ban later this month, and Ohio could follow in the fall.
A few laws, including those in Arizona and West Virginia, have been suspended due to federal lawsuits.
They are part of a larger wave of legislation in the US to restrict transgender rights amid fears that more and more young people, especially girls, will come out as transgender, with some opting for cross-gender hormones and even surgery .