'It's bringing us back into the Dark Ages': Rally protests diocese school policy

WORCESTER - About 100 people gathered at Elm and Linden streets in front of the Diocese of Worcester Wednesday, protesting the church’s new rules regarding LGBTQ+ students.

A new policy for diocese schools prohibits the use of pronouns, clothing or gender-segregated facilities that do not align with sex assigned at birth.

The Worcester-based Love Your Labels group partnered with the YWCA of Central Massachusetts and MassEquality to organize the rally.

“We are here to support and affirm our LGBTQ+ people,” Love Your Labels President Joshua Croke said to the crowd. “We are here to make noise. We consider this (policy) an act of violence against young people and we’re asking everyone in the community to stand out and say we will not back down.”

More Worcester Diocese school policy: Stick to pronouns of sex assigned at birth

Patricia Kirkpatrick attended the rally with her children who attend Mass and Catholic classes as part of their parish. Kirkpatrick said the new policy, among other decisions made by the church, have pushed her further away from the institution and made her rethink sending her children to classes based around the faith.

“To hear someone in a position of power using the Bible, which to me is something rooted in love and mutual respect, as a weapon is intolerable,” Kirkpatrick said. “It’s an ongoing, complicated relationship and job we have as parents, taking our kids to Catholic Mass. I feel very protective of their experience there.”

Maxfield Nadeau-DaCruz, 20, who uses they/them pronouns, held a sign reading, "I am a trans survivor of the Worcester Diocese." They said they attended school kindergarten through junior year of high school in the Worcester Diocese and transferred to Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester their senior year.

Nadeau-DaCruz said teachers at their elementary school were “outwardly homophobic.

“It was weird because there were a lot of out kids, just none of the teachers knew,” Nadeau-DaCruz said. “Thankfully most of the students were pretty accepting.”

The new diocese policy, "Catholic Education and the Human Person,” was approved by Bishop Robert McManus in June. It was sent to all Catholic schools to incorporate into school handbooks beginning this fall. The update is meant to keep the education of students in line with Catholic teachings and beliefs, according to the diocese.

“Anti-LGBTQ policies can only hurt our community and cause division,” YWCA Diversity and Inclusion Director Craig Mortley said. “As an institution, the Catholic Church is telling young queer people who they are is not important. It is bringing us, for lack of a better word, back into the Dark Ages where queer people were not seen and could not live out who they are.”

More: Queer community pushes back against treatment of LGBTQ+ students by Worcester Diocese

Not every school in the diocese will comply with the new policy. Representatives from St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury and Notre Dame Academy in Worcester wrote a joint letter to McManus stating they would maintain their current policies and would not adopt the new one.

Croke hopes more schools in the diocese will follow St. John’s and Notre Dame’s actions.

“Hopefully practicing Catholics among us are demanding change to these policies,” Croke said at the rally.

Before the rally, Love Your Labels in collaboration with YWCA Central Massachusetts and MassEquality created a petition denouncing the new policy. The petition calls for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester to revoke the policy.

The crowd made its way from the Diocese of Worcester chancery building on Elm Street to Main Street before rallying in front of City Hall.

“I’m proud to be standing here with my community tonight. It’s a beautiful crowd and if you look across, it’s a straight message of love,” said state Sen. Robyn Kennedy. “As somebody who went to Catholic school here in Worcester, I saw firsthand what these exclusionary policies can do in creating a culture that creates this sense of ‘other,’ this sense of isolation, self-doubt and fear. It’s harmful and hurtful and has a direct impact on kids’ health.”

Rallygoers stood on the sidewalk outside City Hall displaying their signs of protest to cars driving by, occasionally receiving a honk.

“Every young person should be embraced, should be loved unconditionally, should be given the space to be able to figure out who they are, who they love and who they want to be,” Kennedy said. “We as adults should be supporting them particularly in their academic settings and these policies do just the opposite.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Rally Against Worcester Diocese LGBTQ