Invalidated & Unaccepted
Keaton Fuller sounds like a good kid. He is just about to graduate from the Prince of Peace Catholic school. Even earned the highest award given by the Matthew Shepard Scholarship Foundation (MSSF). Keaton is an out, gay teenager and his academic and civic accomplishments have been a great example for everyone.
In what seems to be a standard event in high schools, there is a ceremony where all the graduating class get scholarships presented to them. High dollar awards are usually presented by the foundations that gave them to students. School Board President Edward O’Neill and the rest of the Board approved a written request from the MSSF to present the award to Keaton.
Everything was set to go until Bishop Martin Amos, the head of the diocese that controls the Prince of Peace school, caught wind of the MSSF attending. Amos was quick to tell Keaton’s parents that the MSSF would not be allowed to attend. Quoting Amos, “We cannot allow any one or any organization which promotes a position that is contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church to present at a diocesan institution.”
Ed O’neill (Not Al Bundy), voiced genuine support for Keaton and sadness for the way this is being handled, saying:
We preach tolerance and acceptance but then we turn around and we don’t practice what we preach. If the bishop says we’re not going to do it, I can voice my objection to it, but there’s not a whole lot I can do.
Needless to say, Keaton was very hurt by the diocese actions feeling overall invalidated & unaccepted. He even wrote an open letter and petition to allow the presentation which had hundreds of signatures within hours.
This whole ordeal has been incredibly hurtful, and I am even sadder that this will be one of my last experiences to remember my high school years by.
In past years casinos and the military have given awards so I’m guessing thou shall not kill (Thou shall do no murder?) doesn’t bother Amos. This kid has achieved great things and been accepted by his peers and the faculty. Is this really necessary? The MSSF is only out there helping to spread tolerance for everyone. How is that an evil? How is that really worse than the death of another person?
Penny Arcade
~Wesley
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I’m always torn when it comes to stories like this. Allowing an organization to present a scholarship means giving someone from that organization time to speak. While it’s definitely good to point out the intolerance of others (i.e. the Catholic Church), we can’t expect a private ideological organization to turn to podium over to those who support opposing views. We wouldn’t expect them to act any differently if it was a scholarship from Planned Parenthood, FFRF, or the American Humanist Association. However, I do hope that this will help more liberal Catholics see the light and prompt them to finally leave their intolerant church.
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I feel the same way… torn. I went to a AAA high school so we had between 1,500 and 2,000 students attending. With so many students, our awards ceremony was held to a few seconds per person. Longest was 25 / 30 seconds. I don’t think much damage could be done to taint the school population in under 5 minutes. Anyway, it seems like the pre-vatican2 groups are gaining a lot of ground in the hierarchy. Issues like Keaton’s need to be written to get the message to the people in the pews to let them know what is going on…
It was nice to see this article come out too:
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=14237