A Catholic school system in Massachusetts issued a new policy requiring students to use their biological pronouns and the names they were given at birth in a move that will affect more than 5,000 students.
The Diocese of Worcester, which is about 45 miles west of Boston, announced Last week, Bishop Robert McManus approved earlier this summer a policy titled “Catholic Education and the Human Person” for all schools under his jurisdiction beginning this fall.
The policy says: “Pope Francis has repeatedly stressed the importance of an adequate understanding of our sexuality, warning of the challenge posed by “the various forms of a gender ideology that denies difference and reciprocity in the nature of a man and a woman and”. envisages a society without sexual differences”.
Papa has ardently spoken against gender ideology in large numbers occasions.
Students in accordance with the policy are expected to act according to their biological sex, including school sports, uniforms and locker rooms. Exceptions for bathroom use may be granted on a “limited, case-by-case basis” as determined by the principal, according to the policy.
The school said bullying or harassment of students because of their sexual orientation or identity “will not be tolerated.”
Additionally, the policy states, “Students may not advocate, celebrate, or express same-sex attraction in a manner that causes confusion or distraction in the context of Catholic school classes, activities, or events.”
District Superintendent David Perda said that while “some schools had policies in place, others did not,” and the rise of “individual situations” led to the need for a single policy for all schools .
The New York Times reported that the policy will apply to all 21 schools in the diocese, but it is unclear whether it will also apply to the three colleges in the diocese: Anna Maria College, Assumption College and College of the Holy Cross.