South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Anti-discrimination coalitions, alumnae rallying behind fired Cor Jesu teachers

St. Stanislaus priest among those attending school rally
To show support for current gay students at Cor Jesu, the statewide coalition Show Me No Hate held a peaceful protest outside the school as students arrived for classes on Friday. Photo by Gloria Lloyd
To show support for current gay students at Cor Jesu, the statewide coalition Show Me No Hate held a peaceful protest outside the school as students arrived for classes on Friday. Photo by Gloria Lloyd

Anti-discrimination coalitions and some Cor Jesu Academy alumnae are rallying be-hind two gay teachers who were fired from the school before the school year began.

Cor Jesu teachers Christina Gambaro and Olivia Reichert were fired after the all-girls Catholic high school in Affton received a copy of a mortgage application indicating that the teachers had been married out of state. The two had taught at Cor Jesu for years — Gambaro taught social studies and coached lacrosse, and Reichert, a 1997 graduate of the school, was a physical education teacher, athletic trainer and coach for softball and basketball.

The teachers did not want their story to go public. But after a St. Louis magazine published an article about the events and questioned why Cor Jesu alumnae had not protested the firings, Gambaro and Reichert came forward to say that many alums were upset, but were protesting privately to the school by writing letters or withholding donations from the school’s ongoing capital campaign rather than making public statements.

Since then, many alumnae have stepped out to publicly support the teachers, and Rep. Genise Montecillo, D-Affton, whose district includes Cor Jesu, spoke out against both the school’s decision and “workplace discrimination.”

As in most states, it is legal to fire an em-ployee for being gay in Missouri, but even under anti-discrimination statutes religious organizations are typically given more leeway to practice their beliefs in their hiring and firing practices. Cor Jesu Principal Sister Barbara Thomas told the Call that the school does not discuss personnel issues, but job postings for Cor Jesu teachers and coaches note that personnel have to uphold the “philosophy” of Cor Jesu.

“I can only hope that by the story getting out, it in some way can lead to making young LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) students’ lives easier,” Gambaro posted on Facebook. “I have to believe that this will spark a positive movement in Catholic schools to address the fact that there are many LGBTQ students who pass through their doors every year. Not acknowledging their presence is the same as discriminating against them.”

To show support for current gay students at Cor Jesu, the statewide coalition Show Me No Hate held a peaceful protest outside the school as students arrived for classes on Friday. Waving rainbow flags and holding signs, they received supportive honks from passing traffic on Gravois Road — but rally organizer Ed Reggi said the audience for the rally was not necessarily the drivers passing by, but the 600 students going into the school, who might feel alienated or alone in the wake of the firings.

Firing teachers for being gay does not fit with Cor Jesu’s recent emphasis on science education initiatives and an academically rigorous curriculum that creates a “modern woman,” Reggi told the Call.

“We know for sure speaking to teachers and students that are currently there that are lesbian — they are worried, they’re disappointed, they’re frightened because of the events,” Reggi said. “So we’re standing here because they can’t. When I do this at a public school — Parkway, Clayton — the students, teachers and the superintendent can come out. But (Cor Jesu students) can’t do that, and I understand.”

Although many of the students who wanted to join the rally felt they could not, Reggi said one current student did stand alongside the dozens of rally participants until she had to leave to go in to school.

Attendees included Cor Jesu alumnae and parents of current students, along with Catholic priests, other clergy members and members of groups promoting LGBT rights.

Among those attending was the Rev. Marek Bozek of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in St. Louis, an independent Cath-olic church that was embroiled in a dispute with the Archdiocese over its land and control of its church that was settled in 2013. He said he came to the rally “be-cause it’s a Catholic school and I’m a Catholic priest, and people need to know that not everybody who’s Catholic holds the position that the school does.”

Cor Jesu is also not officially affiliated with the St. Louis Archdiocese. It is operated by the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and follows official Roman Catholic doctrine, which regards gay marriage as a sin.

Pope Francis said last year that he would not judge gay priests, Bozek noted. The pope told reporters on a plane last year about gay people, “If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has goodwill, well, who am I to judge them?”

“The official Catholic doctrine has changed and will change and will be changing forever,” Bozek said. “So I think it takes a century (to filter down) from the pope to get to the school level, so if the pope says it’s OK for a priest to be gay and he is the right hand (of God), why wouldn’t it be OK for two women in a Catholic school?”

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