Catholic School Censors Student Newspaper and Shows Anti-Gay Bigotry

As a former Catholic it has taken me a good while to get over the psychological and emotional abuse the Roman Catholic Church inflicts on LGBT individuals. The Church's hypocrisy, given its sex abuse and other scandals and centuries long record of being wrong on many issues, is at times breath taking. One can always count on bigotry winning out when it comes to the treatment of gays from the Vatican down to the smallest Church affiliates. A case in point is the censorship of the student newspaper at the St. Louis Park Catholic school Benilde-St. Margaret. The student run publication had had the audacity to include a staff editorial condemning the [Minneapolis] Archdioceses' anti-gay-marriage DVD mailing and an essay by senior Sean Simonson about his own recent experience coming out as gay. What is even more disturbing is the ridiculous excuse given by the school principal Sue Skinner (pictured at right) - contact her at sskinner@bsm-online.org - as to why the columns had been scrubbed:
*
"This particular discussion is not appropriate because the level of intensity has created an unsafe environment for students. As importantly, the articles and ensuing online postings have created confusion about Church teaching."
*
The only thing that creates an unsafe environment for students is the Church's constant anti-gay jihad that encourages homophobes to abuse and denigrate LGBT individuals. But, dishonesty and hypocrisy are par for the course when it comes to the institutional Catholic Church. The integrity of Benedict XVI is right up there with that of a nasty prostitute. Here are highlights from CityPages on the jackbooted behavior of the school:
*
​The editors of the Knight Errant knew things were going to get a little hot when their latest issue dropped last Thursday. The student newspaper at the St. Louis Park Catholic school Benilde-St. Margaret was going to include a staff editorial condemning the Archdioceses' anti-gay-marriage DVD mailing. On top of that, the issue would include an essay by senior Sean Simonson about his own recent experience coming out as gay at Benilde-St. Margaret. . . . by Saturday, school principal Sue Skinner had ordered the two contentious pieces removed.
*
The Knight Errant is pretty highly regarded among high school papers. On Saturday, when the stories were taken down, the paper's faculty adviser and editors were in Kansas City accepting an award at the National High School Journalism Convention, the paper's third national award in three years.
*
Some of the paper's staffers aren't taking the censorship lying down. Bernardo Vigil, the arts and entertainment editor, started contacting other news outlets as soon as he learned of the article's disappearance down the memory hole. Vigil spoke to City Pages this morning after getting kicked out of class for wearing duct tape across his mouth with the word "Censorship" written across it. He said other paper staffers are wearing rainbow clothing in protest.
*
"The people who said it was inappropriate for us to publish these stories are the same people who are perpetuating an atmosphere of homophobia on campus, so caving to the calls for censorship is basically showing solidarity with the view that homophobia is okay," Vigil said. "The articles need to go back online."
*
One can only hope that some students and their families will decide that the school is not a proper venue and will vote with their feet. With Catholic schools closing right and left across the country, perhaps Ms. Skinner has taken a step that will speed Benilde-St. Margaret's demise. The institutional Cathloc Church in its current form needs to cease. With hate, intolerance and bigotry against others being its principal stock in trade, the Vatican's form of Catholicism makes the Pharisees in the Bible seem virtuous.