Lessons Learned from Cancelling “The Laramie Project” at a Catholic High School

One has to wonder what kind of lessons are taught to students when parents’ complaints to New Jersey Catholic high school administrators caused the cancelling of a production of The Laramie Project, a play about the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a young Wyoming gay man.

According to a news story in The Trenton Times, the decision to cancel the show, originally scheduled for Notre Dame high school in Lawrence, N.J.,

“has proved to be just as controversial as the play’s edgy and dramatic portrayal of a Wyoming town gripped in the aftermath of a hate crime.

“On one side, school administrators say parents worried that the choice for the play was inappropriate for high schoolers, too loaded in its tale of the murder of a young gay man beaten and left tied to a fence to die.

“But cast members and students at the Catholic high school said they’ve been unfairly robbed of their ability to put on a thought-provoking and powerful play, one whose message of tolerance resonates powerfully in the wake of the Tyler Clementi cyberbullying verdict and other anti-harassment efforts.

“ ‘I wanted to do a show that had meaning and purpose to it and when I found out we were doing “The Laramie Project” I got really excited because this show teaches the values I’ve been taught my last 12 years of Catholic education,’ cast member and Notre Dame senior Tessa Holtenrichs said. ‘When I was told we couldn’t do it, I felt like it was really hypocritical.’ ”

Clearly, the overwhelming lessons of the school’s action are going to be that censorship is appropriate, that homosexuality is a forbidden topic, and that concerns about sexual activity are much more important that lessons about respect and tolerance.

What makes this decision even more difficult to understand is that that school administrators had previously deliberated over whether or not to stage the play, and had made a conscious decision that it would be beneficial to do so:

“School president Barry Breen and principal Mary Ivins said in a statement the choice for the spring play was originally seen as a ‘powerful and appropriate vehicle’ to address issues of respect and tolerance. But as calls questioning the play’s content rolled in, officials worried that the controversy would become distracting, and the decision was made Tuesday to cancel the show.

“ ‘The expression of these concerns opened our eyes to the realization that different eyes will see radically different messages than the ones we intended,’ they said.

“ ‘This has led the administration to conclude that we might inadvertently be placing our school at the center of an undesired and potentially damaging controversy by moving forward with the production.’ ”

The administration’s rationale teaches the wrong lesson that public pressure, not a principled decision, should be guide one’s thought.

Not all parents were against the staging of the play.  At least one thought the play–and its ensuing controversy–had the potential for an important lesson:

“ ‘I think the people had the assumption that the play was going to do something it never would have done, to encourage students to become homosexuals instead of not killing homosexuals,’ Diane Steinberg, a parent of a Notre Dame student and an alum, said during an interview.

“She said the school missed the chance to turn any controversy into a teachable moment.”

As one student’s comments illustrate, preparing for the play was already producing beneficial lessons for students:

“ ‘My director, Ms. (Diane) Wargo, said something pretty powerful,’  [Tessa] Holtenrichs said. ‘She said Jesus didn’t die on the cross for us to have so many rules about who to love and how to love. I thought that was great.’ ”

What is even more surprising is that many Catholic high schools and colleges stage this play regularly.  In 2010, Xavier High School in Manhattan, produced this play for the second time in less than ten years, and withstood pressure to cancel it.  According to a New York Times article:

“Not only did Xavier’s president and headmaster approve the plan for ‘Laramie,’ they informed Mr. Ostrow [the drama teacher]  that he was not exactly breaking new ground. Xavier had performed ‘Laramie’ in the 2002-3 school year, standing by the production even amid some eye-rolling and grumbling among faculty members and parents and a smattering of picketing from fundamentalist Christians. “

What lessons did staging this production at Xavier teach students?  According to school administrators quoted in theNew York Times:

“ ;I’m thrilled we did it,; Jack Raslowsky, Xavier’s president, said in an interview this week. ‘It’s one of those plays that has the potential to be a springboard to discussion. If you do “The Mousetrap” or “Brigadoon,” you’re not going to be discussing issues of good and evil.’

“Such a discussion, said Mr. Raslowsky and Michael LiVigni, the headmaster, fits firmly in the Catholic theological tradition, with its emphases on social justice and human dignity.

“ ‘When I saw the play,’ Mr. LiVigni said, ‘what struck me most was the scene of Matthew’s funeral when you have picketers with the sign “God Hates You.” But why would God hate what he created? That’s what I want our boys to understand.’ ”

Now, that’s a lesson worth teaching and learning.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

 

 

Good News in Maryland, Bad News in New Jersey

Governor Martin O'Malley is congratulated by Maryland Delegates after the historic marriage equality vote. (NY Times photo)

Yesterday, the Maryland House of Delegates approved a marriage equality bill, virtually guaranteeing it would become law, since the bill is likely to pass the Senate, and Governor Martin O’Malley, a Catholic, has promised to sign it.

Yesterday in New Jersey, however, Governor Chris Christie, a Catholic, vetoed that state’s marriage equality bill which had passed both Assembly and Senate.  The legislature has until January 2014 to override the veto.

MARYLAND

The Baltimore Sun report rightly noted O’Malley’s role in the bill’s success in Maryland, and quoted him saying:

“We are a good people. We all want the same things for our kids.”

The Washington Blade’s story carried a quote from O’Malley that reflected the Catholic social teaching principle behind the issue of marriage equality:

“Today, the House of Delegates voted for human dignity.”

Earlier this week, The Baltimore Sun carried a news report on a talk O’Malley gave in which he described the evolution of his thinking on marriage equality.  New Ways Ministry’s Sister Jeannine Gramick is quoted in that article about her thoughts to O’Malley’s support of the issue. Sister Gramick said:

“I’m proud of him for being a Catholic and for witnessing real Catholic values. … I’m so glad he’s supporting the marriage equality bill.”

Last night, Bondings 2.0 posted New Ways Ministry’s response to the vote, along with a link to The Washington Post article about the news.

Even after the bill would become a law, the struggle would still not be over, as opponents have promised to mount a referendum campaign

NEW JERSEY

Governor Chris Christie (NY Times Photo)

In The New York Times account of Christie’s veto, they explain that

“The governor’s veto was conditional, asking the State Legislature to amend the bill, so that rather than legalizing same-sex marriages, it would establish an overseer to handle complaints that the state’s five-year-old civil union law did not provide gay and lesbian couples the same protections that marriage would.

“Mr. Christie also affirmed his call for the Legislature to put a referendum on same-sex marriage on the ballot in November. . . .

“At the same time, Mr. Christie repeated what the State Supreme Court said in 2006 — that same-sex couples deserve the same benefits enjoyed by married couples. Answering testimony that same-sex couples in civil unions had more trouble than married couples in matters like obtaining mortgages and making health care decisions, the governor said he wanted to set up a new ombudsman to make sure gay and lesbian couples did not suffer discrimination.”

Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, responded in the Times story to the ombudsman idea by calling it

““the equivalent of gold-plating a separate water fountain for a specific class of people.”

In a posting two days ago, Bondings 2.0 noted that Washington State’s Catholic governor Christine Gregoire, who this week signed a marriage equality bill into law, sent a letter to fellow Catholic Christie, offering to discuss her evolution on the issue. Christie had not responded.

In their editorial column, the Times opined about “Governor Christie’s Misguided and Intolerant Veto,”

“Sadly, there was no surprise to Gov. Chris Christie’s veto on Friday of the same-sex marriage bill that cleared New Jersey’s Assembly and Senate this week. Mr. Christie had said all along that he would block the measure as soon as it reached his desk. That does not change the message of intolerance or lessen the pain for gay residents and their families. Mr. Christie compounded the insult when he dismissed the Legislature’s support for the rights of gay people as merely ‘an exercise in theater.’ The only one who deserves that accusation is Governor Christie, who is clearly pandering to his own conservative base. . . .

“This isn’t about theater and shouldn’t be about politics. Marriage equality is a basic right.”

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

Chris, Chris, and Mario: Catholic Governors, Faith, and Politics

Chris Gregoire

Chris Christie

On opposite coasts of our nation, two Catholic governors both named “Chris” are taking opposite approaches to marriage equality legislation in their respective states.

Governor Chris(tine) Gregoire in Washington State has just signed her state’s legislation into law, while Governor Chris Christie in New Jersey has vowed to veto the legislation in his state.

Governor Gregoire has generously offered to discuss her decision, including her faith journey on this issue, with Governor Christie, but so far, he has not responded to her offer.  You can read the text of her letter in a blog post by Michael O’Loughlin on America magazine’s In All Things blog.  O’Loughlin observes that Catholic governors have been tremendously supportive of marriage equality legislation. He observes that four of the five legislative initiatives

“were signed by Catholic governors: John Baldacci in Maine; John Lynch in New Hampshire; Andrew Cuomo in New York; and now Gregoire in Washington.”

These numbers increase when you add Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois who signed a civil unions bill into law in his state against the strong public appeals by Illinois’ Catholic hierarchy.

Mario Cuomo

The Catholic governors who support marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples are following sound ethical principles of another great Catholic governor:  Mario Cuomo from New York.  In a landmark 1984 speech at the University of Notre Dame entitled “Religious Belief and Public Morality: A Catholic Governor’s Perspective,” the elder Cuomo laid out some important principles to guide Catholic government leaders.

One principle was pragmatic:  “The Catholic public official lives the political truth most Catholics through most of American history have accepted and insisted on: the truth that to assure our freedom we must allow others the same freedom.”

Another principle was a realistic observation:  “. . . on divorce and birth control, without changing its moral teaching, the Church abides the civil law as it now stands, thereby accepting-without making much of a point of it-that in our pluralistic society we are not required to insist that all our religious values be the law of the land.”

A third principle was that of prudence and conscience:  “While we always owe our bishops’ words respectful attention and careful consideration, the question whether to engage the political system in a struggle to have it adopt certain articles of our belief as part of public morality is not a matter of doctrine: it is a matter of prudential political judgment. . . .My church does not order me-under pain of sin or expulsion-to pursue my salvific mission according to a precisely defined political plan.”

Whether consciously or not, this new generation of Catholic governors have imbibed Cuomo’s wisdom and are exercising sound religious and political judgment.

An analysis of Cuomo’s comments can be found in chapter 10 of New Ways Ministry’s publication Marriage Equality: A Positive Catholic Approach.  The chapter’s title is “What is the moral responsibility of a Catholic legislator?”  You can order free hard copies of the book or download a free PDF of it by clicking here.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

Tyler Clementi’s Catholic Cousin Speaks Tearfully for Marriage Equality in N.J.

Tyler Clementi

Perhaps the most moving Catholic testimony in support of marriage equality comes from Jennifer Ehrentraut-Segro, cousin of the late Tyler Clementi, whose suicide in 2010 because of vicious anti-gay bullying sparked a national movement to end bullying.  Ehrentraut-Segro, in front of the New Jersey Assembly Judiciary committee hearing on that state’s marriage equality bill, talks, through tears, about how anti-gay sentiment marred the joy of her wedding day, and also how her Catholic parish gathered around her and her family to support them after Clementi’s death.

You can listen to the four-minute audio here, thanks to GoodAsYou.org.

A tragic reminder that marriage equality is needed to save lives.  A hopeful reminder that Catholic straight allies have an essential role in this struggle.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

NEWS NOTES: January 25, 2012

Here are links to some articles you might find of interest:

1) In a Washington Blade article, Maryland’s Catholic Governor Martin “O’Malley says marriage bill brings dignity, religious freedom.”  In attendance at the Governor’s prayer breakfast, and quoted in this article in support of marriage equality, is New Ways Ministry’s co-founder, Sister Jeannine Gramick.

2) Announcing that he will veto New Jersey’s marriage equality bill and prefers a referendum on the issue,  Catholic Governor Chris “Christie Wants Voters to Decide on Gay Marriage” reports the New York Times.

3) Both Pope Benedict XVI and John Boswell, the late Catholic gay historian, are quoted in “The ‘Art’ and Rhetoric of Stereotyping and Scapegoating LGBT People,” published on HuffingtonPost.com.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

 

NEWS NOTES: January 24, 2012

Here are links to some items you might find of interest:

1) In an announcement in all parish bulletins this past weekend, Seattle’s Archbishop Peter Satrain called on Catholics to contact their state legislators to oppose the marriage equality bill there.  Details can be found in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer  blog post,  “Archbishop Sartrain: ‘Protect Marriage.’ “

2) The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports “In Haugen casts key marriage equality vote” that Washington State’s marriage equality bill has received the 25 needed votes for passage in the Senate.  Passage in the state’s House is expected, and Catholic Governor Christine Gregoire has pledged to sign the bill.

3) Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland, a Catholic, has introduced a marriage equality bill to the state legislature, reports the Baltimore Sun in “O’Malley introduces same-sex marriage bill.”  Strengthened exemptions for religious institutions distinguish it from last year’s bill, which was tabled.  The Sun also reports that “O’Malley will back transgender rights bill,”  too.

4) The first gay man nominated to the New Jersey Supreme Court was named by Governor Chris Christie, a Catholic.   In “Christie Names a Gay Man and an Asian for the Top Court,” the New York Times reports that Christie, who has opposed marriage equality in his state denied that this pro-gay appointment is any indication that he will support marriage equality in this legislative session.

5) The Catholic Catechism’s directive that lesbian/gay people ‘must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity’ is cited in a Malta Times article, “NGOs call for ‘hate crime’ to also cover anti-gay acts.”

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

Marriage Equality Gaining Momentum in Two States with Catholic Governors (and Among Catholic Mayors, too)

New Jersey and Washington State both have Catholic governors, and both states will be considering marriage equality bills this legislative session.  The news from both states is that both bills are gaining a lot of momentum for passage.

On a Wall Street Journal politics blog, Heather Haddon reports that both the Senate and Assembly of New Jersey are very close to having enough votes to override any potential veto of the marriage bill which may come from Catholic governor Chris Christie:

“State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, one of the bill’s sponsors, estimated the chamber had between 24 and 27 supporters for legislation to allow for same-sex marriage in New Jersey. It takes 27 votes in the 40-member state senate to override a governor’s veto. . .  .

“Assembly Speaker Shelia Oliver, a Democrat, has said that she has majority support for same-sex marriage legislation, and that she would work to garner the 54 votes necessary for a veto override in the 80-member Assembly.”

A veto override may not even be necessary.  The CBS affiliate in the NY-NJ region reports signs of indecision about vetoing the bill from Governor Christie, who previously had been adamantly opposed to marriage equality:

“A day after   of the State address, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was non-committal on whether he would veto a same-sex marriage bill in the Garden State.

“Speaking with WCBS 880 anchors Wayne Cabot and Steve Scott, Christie said, ‘we’ll see what happens’ when directly asked if he would reject a gay marriage bill.”

In Washington State, the Senate is only one vote short of passing the bill, and there are enough supporters in the House and promised public support from Governor Christine Gregoire to make it law.  The Seattle Times reports:

“State Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, on Thursday announced he’ll support legislation legalizing gay marriage.

“Kastama’s support means there are 24 state senators — 22 Democrats and two Republicans — who’ve said they’ll vote for Senate Bill 6239. That’s one short of the 25 needed for passage.

“The state House already has enough lawmakers in support of the measure to approve it. Gov. Chris Gregoire backs the bill as well.”

Maryland, the only other state considering a marriage equality bill this session, also has a Catholic governor, Martin O’Malley, who has pledged his full support.

Meanwhile, close to 80 mayors from across the US have pledged to work for marriage equality. The Washington Post‘s report  notes that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the organizers of this mayoral coalition, specifically noted:

“It is also not about what organized religion should or should not do. This is a civil rights issue.”

Two of the five mayors who chair this project–Thomas Menino of  Boston and Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles–are Catholic.  A complete list of the mayors who support marriage equality can be found here.  Please let us know if you know if any of the other mayors on the list are Catholic. (New Ways Ministry is attempting to develop a list of Catholic government leaders who support LGBT equality initiatives.  You can read more about this project here.)

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

NEWS NOTES: January 10, 2012

Here are links to some articles that might be of interest to you:

1) In a reference to marriage equality initiatives, Pope Benedict XVI, in a new year address to the Vatican’s diplomatic corps said, “. . .policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself.”  For a full report on the speech, read the article, “Gay Marriage a Threat to Humanity’s Future: Pope.”

2)  In an editorial entitled, “Gov. Gregoire Comes Around,” The New York Times applauds Christine Gregoire, the Catholic governor of Washington State, for her support of marriage equality.

3) New Jersey’s marriage equality legislative debate will be a struggle between two Catholic political leaders:  Senate President Stephen Sweeney (pro) and Governor Chris Christie (con).   Read background on this contest in “Sweeney: N.J. Gay Marriage Fight Will Be with Christie, Not Legislature.”

4) Josh Zeitz, an aide and spokesperson for former N.J. Governor Jon Corzine, opines “Marriage Equality in N.J. a  Civil Rights Issue.”

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

Catholics Can Make a Difference for Marriage Equality in New Jersey

In the upcoming legislative session, New Jersey will join Maryland and Washington State as states with Catholic governors who are considering marriage equality bills.   While the Catholic governors of  Maryland and Washington support marriage equality, New Jersey’s governor, Chris Christie, does not.

The NBC affiliate in New York reported the news of the introduction of New Jersey’s bill, and noted the promise of legislative support, but that Christie has the opportunity to veto it:

” ‘The world has changed since 2009 when the bill last came up,’ said Steven Goldstein, who heads the gay rights group Garden State Equality. ‘I don’t think anyone has seen a civil rights movement accelerate so quickly.’

“Democrats said they are confident they have enough votes to advance the bill but can’t do it by veto-proof majorities without some Republican support. It’s likely to die with the Republican governor. However, Christie also could ignore the bill if it reaches his desk, and it would become law in 45 days without his signature.

“Goldstein said he doesn’t believe there are any circumstances under which Christie, a national GOP figure who is often talked about as a future presidential prospect, would sign a gay marriage bill.”

New Jersey currently has a law allowing civil unions,  and a court decision about whether that law supports full equality may be the way that marriage equality comes to the state.  NBC reports:

“A Superior Court judge ruled in November that a suit filed by gay couples to force the state to recognize same-sex marriage can go forward, setting up a trial on the issue five years after the state Supreme court stopped short of allowing same-sex nuptials.”

New Jersey has its work cut out for it to achieve marriage equality.  With Catholics making up 37% of the population, the largest religious denomination in the state,  faith will certainly play a role in whether or not the bill passes.  Catholics who support marriage equality as a justice issue need to let their voices be heard.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry