Strong opinions on dismissal of St. Thomas Aquinas teachers: Letters

Urging St. Thomas Aquinas to once again be a 'light in darkness'

May 9 — To the Editor:

St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover NH has chosen to fire beloved teachers over LGBTQ+ support or affiliations.  While school President Paul Marquis has denied these claims, attempting to redirect attention onto the importance of the community that has so blindsided its teachers, staff have allegedly released a statement through a messenger under the Facebook page: #SaintsShame.

These teachers state that they will continue to try to be a safe space to all students, but the high school’s new implementation of a transphobic program, “Person and Identity Project” (which seeks to explain how you can’t “really be transgender”) stands to risk even that.

These teachers worked tirelessly through the pandemic, and some have committed themselves to the STA community for more than 20 years.  This community must protect its teachers, and it must protect its vulnerable LGBTQ+ students, who stand to become exposed to lessons that serve no other purpose than to perpetuate hatred, sow confusion, and invalidate the very real experiences of the transgender community through a misguided and unscientific lens.

More than ever, I stand by Samuel 16:7, “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  As a transgender, bisexual STA alum, I urgently ask that this issue gets the attention it deserves, and that this community be a lux in tenebris.

Aster Brousseau

Rye

More: St. Thomas Aquinas teachers let go. School denies claims LGBTQ+ affiliation is reason.

STA's anti-LGBTQ+ movement is 'fundamentally anti-Christian'

May 8 — To the Editor:

Dear St. Thomas Aquinas High School Board & Administration,

I write to you today as an alumna, a middle school parent, and as a pediatric neuropsychologist. I graduated in the class of 1996. My husband (high school sweethearts) was from the class of 1995. My aunt was in the class of 1965, my mother the class of 1969, my sister the class of 2002, my cousin the class of 1997. Heck, I met my still-to-this-day best friend in the cafeteria on the first day of ninth grade. STA has always held a special place in my heart.

One of the things that made STA great and set its students apart once we left those walls was that we were taught to be critical thinkers. We were taught to identify cognitive dissonance and use it to be the change we wanted to see in the world. We were taught the value and imperative of social justice. We were taught that it was both our privilege and our responsibility to make the world a better place. To be the Light in the Darkness. We were taught to live the lessons of Jesus in our every day existence and to do so deliberately and with acumen.

The first book I remember reading in Sister Carol’s Honors English class the fall of my freshman year was Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451." It rocked me to my core. It was different from any book I’d ever read till that point. It challenged us to think, to question authority, to ask rather than complicity accept what we were told. But most of all it taught me that if someone doesn’t want you to read something it’s probably because it threatens their power — which means you should absolutely read it and decide for yourself.

Know what other amazing life changing books I read in my English and History classes at STA? Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World," Toni Morrison’s “Beloved," F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby," John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath," George Orwell’s “1984" and so many more. These books all made us think. They made us question our world, our experience of reality, and they made us grow as thinkers. They are also all on banned book lists. Much of what made STA great was that it was not afraid to teach us how to think because that is what made STA powerful. STA was great because it made us great. It was not threatened by us, STA was emboldened by us.

But something has changed. STA is not a place that teaches young people to think for themselves anymore. Rumor has it that at least one of these influential books is now in fact banned. I can only hope that the students see that and read it anyway. Read it because it is banned, and decide for themselves. Just as we were taught to do 30 years ago.

In fact, not only are the students at STA not empowered to think for themselves, they aren’t even empowered to be themselves. And this is what is truly terrifying. As a parent. As a pediatric neuropsychologist. As a human being.

The proposed anti-trans “Gender Ideology” program from the Person and Identity project is absolutely terrifyingly wrong. It infuriates me and nauseates me and makes me want to scream. It is anti-science. Science supports that gender is not binary. Even biological sex is not binary — people are XX, XY, XO, XXY, XYY and other species have even more variability than this! Research in well respected peer reviewed scientific journals such as Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Pediatrics, Genetics and countless others supports that sex and gender exist on a continuum. Life exists on a spectrum. Dichotomy is arbitrary and intentionally divisive. That Gender Ideology “curriculum” will cause irreparable harm. It is child abuse.

But most discouraging is that it this anti-LGBTQ+ movement in the administration is fundamentally anti-Christian and therefore against the mission of the school. Jesus would be ashamed of what STA has become. Your alumni are ashamed of what STA has become.

Prayers to the teachers and families at STA, past and present, who are facing the consequences of the administration’s decisions. They deserve better.

Lux en tenebris. Light in Darkness. Do better, STA. Be better.

Julie Bapp Newman, PhD, ABPP-CN

St. Thomas Aquinas High School Class of 1996

Ethics and Public Policy Center is Catholic, not 'Judeo-Christian'

May 10 — To the Editor:

In today’s article about St. Thomas Aquinas you twice quoted an organization called Ethics and Public Policy Center using the word “Judeo-Christian” to describe their view on gender identity. As a Jewish person I just want people to know that they don’t speak for us. In writing this I am not representing a Jewish view on gender identity. Just saying that they are a Catholic organization, according to the article. If they or anyone else shares such beliefs, please state it without reference to Judaism.

Jeffrey Cooper

Portsmouth

GOP's hypocrisy on debt ceiling is appalling

May 7 — To the Editor:

The GOP members of U.S. House of Representatives voted to raise the debt ceiling only if government funding for everything except Medicare, Social Security, the military and ethanol were cut back to what they were in 2019.

Inflation is 21% higher than in 2019 so Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his party voted to cut all other programs by 21%. The GOP is constantly taking photo ops at the Mexican border to complain about immigration, yet they voted to cut spending on the Border Patrol by 21%. They complain about our illegal drug problem, but they voted for 21% spending cuts for the DEA, FBI and Customs.

In 2019 the war in Afghanistan cost $52 billion. The war is over, but cutting defense spending is off the table.  The administration said the cuts would cost 81,000 health care jobs at the Veterans Administration.  Clearly, the GOP cares more about defense industry jobs in their district than their own veterans.

Kevin McCarthy says these cuts will save $2 trillion over 10 years which is the same amount the Trump tax cuts created in deficits.  His party did not care about deficits then? They do not care about the country now.

Walter Hamilton

Portsmouth

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Strong opinions on dismissal of St. Thomas Aquinas teachers: Letters