Hundreds Of Students Walk Out To Protest Catholic School Refusal To Hire Gay Teacher

Students at a Des Moines Catholic high school are protesting the administration decision to retract an employment offer to a teacher once they learned he is gay.

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Tyler McCubbin is a substitute teacher and volunteer coach at Dowling Catholic High School in Des Moines, Iowa. At least he is, for now. The school’s president offered him a full-time position, but upon finding McCubbin’s Facebook page, which shows he is engaged to be married to a man, the school retracted the offer. School officials also say he should not be a substitute teacher either, now that they know he is openly gay.

The decision to retract the offer “was not based on the sexual orientation of the individual, but it was based on the Facebook publicity that he has opened to the world,” Bishop Richard Pates said.

Students are incensed, and early this week had planned a protest for Friday, but pushed it up to yesterday.

UPDATE: Student Pens ‘Conscience’ Letter To Catholic School That Denied Job To Openly Gay Teacher

Hundreds of students walked out of classes Wednesday, in the rain, to protest.

LOOK: Iowa Bishop: Teacher’s Job Offer Not Rescinded Because He’s Gay, But Because He’s Openly-Gay

“I just want the community to know that this is a really important topic, and that just because our school officials or diocesan leaders might have made this decision, it does not directly reflect what we believe as students,” 16-year-old sophomore Grace Mumm, one of the event organizers, told the Des Moines Register.

Student during the protest also offered support for LGBT people in general, which was timely for one student in particular.

“I was actually able to come out to my parents last night because we started talking about this,” 16-year-old Dowling junior Kate Courter, who identifies as bisexual, told the Register. “Even if this whole thing was sad that this situation had to happen, there’s some silver-lining, and I’m glad we can all talk about this right now.”

Supporters include a Dowling alum, Iowa State Senator Matt McCoy, who has spoken out at length against the diocese’s decision.

And a Facebook group, Dowling Catholic Alumni, Faculty, and Students Against Discrimination, has been formed. It currently has 1890 members.

Tweets from the protest:

 

Image by Katherine Klingseis via Twitter