The Archbishop of San Francisco is adding an anti-LGBT morals clause to teachers’ contracts, and expanding anti-gay language in official handbooks.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is coming under fire by LGBT rights groups for adding what is being called a “morals clause” to the 2015-2016 contracts of Catholic high school teachers and staff in the diocese of San Francisco. The 58-year old Roman Catholic prelate is also adding statements on sexual morality to faculty and staff handbooks.
The statements, while not new to Church teachings, seem to confront Pope Francis’ commentary and attempts to be a more welcoming church. They include statements that “all extra-marital sexual relationships are gravely evil, including adultery, masturbation, fornication, the viewing of pornography and homosexual relations.”
Students are not taking these new attacks lightly. They have created a social media campaign on Twitter, #teachacceptance, and have published an online petition, “Discrimination And Fear Don’t Belong In Our Schools,” which has over 1000 signatures and is growing quickly.
“Every staff member is expected to ‘conduct their lives so as to not visibly contradict, undermine or deny these truths.'” the petition says the new statements read.  It also accuses Archbishop Cordileone of “attempting to reclassify all Catholic school employees, including teachers, administrative staff, custodial and food service staff, as ‘ministers,'” and notes it as “a move that could eliminate anti-discrimination and other workplace protections for those staff members.”
The petition expresses the concern that due to these new regulations they “could lose some of our best teachers and staff.”
HRC is battling the new Archbishop Cordileone’s latest move.
“In imposing what amounts to an anti-LGBT purity test, the archbishop is closing the door on dedicated professionals, many of them faithful Catholics, gay and straight, whose moral codes do not embrace discrimination,” Lisbeth Melendez Rivera, director of Latina/o and Catholic Initiatives for HRC Foundation’s Religion and Faith Program told CBS San Francisco.Â
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