GAY TEACHER FIRED FROM CATHOLIC SCHOOL
Students, alum and supporters are planning a march in support
of
Bencomo at St. Lucy's on Aug. 8.
Over
1,500 people have RSVP'd for the
march on Facebook.
A Southern California man who
taught at a Catholic high school for 17 years
was fired days after he married his partner.
Students say Ken Bencomo, 45, was one of the most beloved
teachers at
St. Lucy's Priory High School, an all-girl
school in Glendora, Calif.
Bencomo and his partner Christopher Persky, 32, were one of the
first couples
to line up on July 1 at the San Bernardino
County Assessor-Recorder's Office to
get married after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional.
That same day, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin ran a front-page photo and online
video of the newlyweds celebrating their marriage.
Last week, St. Lucy's students started talking on social media
about the absence
of Bencomo from their fall schedules. When
they suspected the teacher had
been fired, former
student Brittany Littleton, 23, started a petition on Change.org to get Bencomo re-hired. As of 11 a.m. PST on
Thursday, the
petition
had over 8,500 signatures.
The petition describes Bencomo and his involvement in the school:
He is a beloved mentor, confidant, and educator. His passion for
teaching,
as well as his witty personality, have made him a favorite teacher among
many students. He is extremely active at St. Lucy's; he teaches multiple
subjects along with taking on various leadership positions including Yearbook moderator, dance coach, and head of the English Department.
as well as his witty personality, have made him a favorite teacher among
many students. He is extremely active at St. Lucy's; he teaches multiple
subjects along with taking on various leadership positions including Yearbook moderator, dance coach, and head of the English Department.
On July 12, Bencomo was notified in person by Assistant Principal
Sister Helen
Dziuk that he was being terminated because his
marriage violates the church's
teachings, Bencomo's lawyer, Patrick McGarrigle,
told HuffPost.
"The happiest day of his life has turned into a
nightmare," McGarrigle said.
"He's sick about it because he has such an
affinity for the school. His lifelong
efforts have been disrupted. The humiliation
hurts him very much."
Bencomo would like to resolve the matter with the school without
any litigation,
McGarrigle said. Before
his marriage, Bencomo had signed an employment renewal contract with St. Lucy's
in May.
Jessica Navarro, a 2011 alum of St. Lucy's, expressed
her gratitude to "Mr.B" on
"Mr. B was the one who gave me the opportunity to dance and
choreograph
in the style that I love most," Navarro
wrote. "He put faith into me and gave
me the responsibility of choreographing pieces
for the hip hop team and for
my dance class and just by having someone so
friendly and welcoming as him
gave me more faith in myself as a dancer."
"I hope the school delivers an apology to Bencomo and [its]
students," she
continued. Instead of going back to St. Lucy's,
"Bencomo deserves to go to
an institution that didn't treat him poorly
based on his love life."
Students say that it was well-known on campus
for years that Bencomo was
in a
committed relationship. Several staff members had met his partner, who
he
has been with for 10 years, Bencomo's lawyer said.
"It was known by 99 percent of the school that he was gay but
it was never
an issue in the past," Littleton said to
HuffPost. "I think it's very hypocritical
to be OK with someone and their relationship
until they are open about it."
"In fact, in a social justice religion class, we were taught
to be inclusive and
fight for peoples' rights," she recalled to
HuffPost.
Students, alum and supporters are planning a
march in support of
Bencomo at St. Lucy's on Aug. 8. Over 1,500
people have RSVP'd for
St. Lucy's declined to comment to The Huffington Post but has
released the
following public statement.
"We respect and protect privacy interests and, to be
respectful of those involved,
the school does not comment on confidential
matters," the school stated. "St.
Lucy’s wishes to reassure all in our community
that upholding its mission to
educate students in the tradition of the
Catholic faith is of paramount importance."
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles parish staff handbook states
that an employee
may
be disciplined, including suspended or terminated, for "behavior counter
to
the
moral teachings and standards of the church."
The Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino could not be reached for
comment.
"Do they fire teachers who get divorced? Or who treat their
gay children with
dignity and respect instead of shaming
them?" Evan Wolfson, founder and
president of Freedom to Marry, the campaign to
win marriage nationwide, told
HuffPost in commenting on the case.
"How sad to see an employer practicing
discrimination so at odds with the
teachings
of the Golden Rule and the spirit of what the Pope himself went out
of
his way to say just a few days ago," Wolfson said.
Pope Francis made headlines last week by saying,
"Who am I to judge a gay
person of goodwill who seeks the Lord? You can't
marginalize these people."
According to a recent Gallup poll, 60 percent of Catholics are in favor
of "making
same-sex marriages legal in all 50 states."
However, the law does not protect LGBT employees of religious
institutions.
"Unfortunately for the students at the countless religious
schools in our country,
the legal thumb usually is on the discrimination
side of the scales," Jennifer Pizer,
senior counsel and director of the Lambda Legal
Law and Policy Project, told
HuffPost.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that religious schools, protected by the
First
Amendment, have the right to hire and fire teachers based on whether or
not
their actions are in line with religious doctrine.
Federal legislation prohibits employment discrimination based on
race, religion,
sex, nation of origin, age and any disability --
it does not ban discrimination based
on gender identify or sexual orientation. Thus,
in 33 states that currently don't
have state bans, people can be fired, denied a
promotion or harassed, merely for
being LGBT.
According to a poll from the Center for American Progress, nine out of 10
Americans mistakenly think that LGBT individuals are
already protected from
workplace discrimination under federal law.
Nineteen years after its introduction into the political arena,
the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed a Senate committee last month. ENDA
would ban workplace discrimination based on
gender identity and sexual
orientation, but religious organizations are
exempted.
LGBT activists think that religious exemption is too broad and
should be
narrowed to have the same parameters as Title
VII, which prohibits
discrimination based on race, sex, national
origin and religion.
While litigation is a last resort, McGarrigle said that he
believes his client
has a case because "the law is changing
here. No one expected the Supreme
Court to overturn DOMA."
While sexual orientation in the workplace is not
federally protected, California's
Fair Employment and Housing Act prohibits
discrimination in employment
because
of sexual orientation. FEHA does have an exemption for religious
institutions, but McGarrigle thinks it does not
apply because of the administration's knowledge of Bencomo's sexual orientation
and partner for years, and his long-term employment and continued promotion at
the school.
"This is a very unique circumstance," McGarrigle said.
"Not like one that has ever
been litigated before."
Lucy's alum Abigail O'Brien, 19, wrote
on Facebook about joining the effort to
support Bencomo:
I love St. Lucy's - I love SL for the faculty
that knew when I was having a 'bad'
day, the tradition(s) of a beautiful 'Our Father' prayer, the students that walked
with me up and down those infamous stairs, and the community that is coming together on this page.
day, the tradition(s) of a beautiful 'Our Father' prayer, the students that walked
with me up and down those infamous stairs, and the community that is coming together on this page.
Mr.B should still be working there ... and that belief is what we
are standing up
for. Proud, humbled, and overwhelmed with
love -
We are sisters, and we are that change.
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