Broad Coalition of Forces Stands Up to Catholic ArchBIGOT Cordileone
Stop Patriarchy Takes the Challenge to Saint Mary's Cathedral: Outside and In

March 11, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

In response to the outrageous “Morals Clause” imposed on San Francisco's Catholic schools by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, a group of roughly 400 teachers, students, and parents held a vigil on Ash Wednesday (February 18, 2015), raising slogans like "Teach Acceptance" and "Cordileone Denies Gay Families."

Then, on International Women's Day on March 8, in response to a call from Stop Patriarchy, people gathered at the home church of ArchBIGOT Cordileone, to voice their outrage and determination that this "Morals Clause" must not stand. This protest included, among others, students from SF Catholic Schools, college students, some fiery feminists, and members of Stop Patriarchy and the Revolution Club. They held a morally-charged speak-out where people put forward different views on religion, and united strongly against what the Archbigot represents.

Some of the members of Stop Patriarchy skipped the beginning of the protest to go inside the church and make an announcement. They walked to front of the church, unfurled signs that read "BEING LGBT IS NOT IMMORAL" and "ABORTION IS NOT IMMORAL," and delivered the following statement, in voices that echoed through the chapel:

In San Francisco, the woman-hating, gay-bashing Archbishop Cordileone -- who has a long history of attacking abortion rights both nationally and through pro-life boot camps when he oversaw Oakland schools, was head of the Vatican committee to prevent gay people from acquiring basic rights to marriage, and who has refused to release lists of names of accused child molesters from his previous church in San Diego -- has announced that he is appointing teachers at Catholic schools in San Francisco to be "ministers" who will be required to sign an "Affirm and Believe" statement.

The clause that Cordileone is adding to the handbook for teachers condemns birth control, abortion, homosexuality, masturbation, and sex outside of wedlock as "grave evils."

This is a bald-faced move to assert the training of many young people in San Francisco in an archaic and patriarchal ideology that says that women only exist to serve men, reduces women to tools for reproduction, and considers LGBT people to be "deviant" and "sinful," fueling and accelerating a whole climate of hatred and violence against more than half of humanity. The clause is set to go into effect September 1, and must be opposed!

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