Catholic Students Revolt After Church Fires School Vice-Principal for Being Gay

Today, kids in Seattle's Catholic schools are in revolt. Their protests are spilling into Catholic schools across the city and then flooding into the streets:

Wow honestly im so proud of how we've changed this situation into something amazing #KeepMrZ2013 #LoveisLove pic.twitter.com/IrjgBfO1je

— Katie Pattenaude (@kpattenaude) December 19, 2013



The Archdiocese of Seattle has ordered Eastside Catholic High School vice principal. School spokeswoman Sister Mary Tracy told KING 5 " a church decision is not a school decision." A letter sent to students says that marrying a man " violated his employment contract ."

Anyone who dismisses power of the Catholic Church is deluded—this map shows its religious dominance in America. Washington State is a particular stronghold. Given that power, the entrenched resistance to the Catholic Church's anti-gay agenda in Seattle is of international significance—and has been for decades.

The anti-gay bigots in the Catholic Church just can't catch a break with Seattle Catholics. Not in the 1980s, when the laity beat back the Vatican to defend a gay mass at St. James Cathedral and protect their gay-friendly archbishop. And not last year, when Catholics for Marriage Equality beat back the bigoted Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who turned the entire archdiocese into an anti-gay lobbying arm of Rome. Seattle's Catholics out-campaigned him and marched in gay pride.

And not today. They have the hash tag #KeepMrZ2013 and they're posting like crazy. The kids at Holy Names, Seattle Prep, and other schools are protesting in solidarity:

Holy Names students stand w Eastside, whose vice principal had to resign after marrying a man #keepmrz2013 pic.twitter.com/7TLbQ4JhbZ

— Alison Morrow (@AlisonMorrowTV) December 19, 2013



More after the jump:

Let's be absolutely clear on what's going on here. The American bishops believe that their grip on moral authority comes by setting these standards (mostly against women's health and against gay rights). But no one listens to them anymore. Not the priests, not the congregations, not the kids.

They're publicly humiliating Archbishop Sartain by becoming the Catholic Church's new moral authority.

I have a call in to Archdiocese of Seattle spokesman Greg Magnoni, who didn't answer his phone and hasn't called me back. I'm curious how the Archdiocese of Seattle, Sartain, and Magnoni thinks they're helping these kids out or what sort of message they're sending about God.