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| Ken Bencomo and Christopher Persky |
Out in San Bernardino, California, Ken Bencomo was a high
school teacher at St. Lucy’s Priory High School,
an all-girl Catholic school.
I say ‘was’ because Bencomo was fired this week for getting
married; to a man.
Ken Bencomo and Christopher Persky were one of the first
same-sex couples to get married in San Bernardino after the fall of Prop H8,
and the local paper published their marriage announcement. But, less than two
weeks later, Bencomo says he was fired.
Patrick McGarrigle, Bencomo’s attorney, said the school didn’t
fire Bencomo for being gay, they fired him for getting ‘gay’ married: “Their
reasoning was that he had gotten married and it was in the papers. The school’s
position was that it violated its teachings.”
School administrators declined to discuss the firing, but,
of course, issued a statement that read, in part:
“We respect and protect privacy interests and, to be respectful of those involved, the school does not comment on confidential matters. St. Lucy’s wishes to reassure all in our community that upholding its mission to educate students in the tradition of the Catholic faith is of paramount importance.”
Respect the privacy of others, unless you get ‘gay’ married.
Ken Bencomo had been teaching at St. Lucy’s for 17 years; he was
head of the English department and coached the dance squad. He was openly gay,
and the school knew that--in fact, school officials had met Bencomo's partner Christopher several times--and had no problem renewing Bencomo’s contract every
year for seventeen years until Bencomo got married; something he’s legally
entitled to do.
Ken Bencomo hopes to resolve the situation without going to
court; all he wants to do is keep doing the job he’s been doing for seventeen
years, a job the ALLEGED good folks
at St. Lucy’s felt he’s always done until he got ‘gay’ married.
Sidenote, Part One: I know, I know, he broke one of the tenets of the Catholic
Church which, as Pope Frankie says, should not judge The Gays for being gay,
but can judge The Gays for marrying one another. If only Ken Bencomo had not
fallen in love, had not struggled to have the same kind of life as everyone
else, had not been legally allowed the right of marriage.
He’d still have his job.
Sidenote, Part Two: I, personally, loathe the term ‘gay
marriage’ but used it here as a point of sarcasm, because Ken Bencomo didn’t
get ‘gay’ married, he simply got married.
Go HERE to sign a petition asking that Ken Bencomo get his job
back.
via CBS Los Angeles
