Can you believe it? Yet another conservative sex scandal!? Just when we were getting over cross-dressing Richard Curtis‘ resignation comes news of Catholic principal Paul Schum hustling his junk in fishnets.
Via Smoking Gun:
Meet Paul Schum. The Kentucky man, a Catholic school principal, is facing a prostitution charge after Louisville police found him dressed like a woman and loitering in an alley Tuesday night. According to a criminal citation, a copy of which you’ll find here, Schum, 50, was wearing fishnet stockings, fake breasts, and “all black leather” when officers discovered him “loitering in high drug trafficking and prostitution area.” The citation notes that Schum, who heads Bethlehem High School, had “no reason for why he was in alley…dressed up in women’s leather other than for prostitution.” Schum, now on paid leave from his school post, is due in court on November 27 to answer a misdemeanor charge of loitering for the intent of prostitution.
We wonder what anti-gay Cardinal Jesús López RodrÃguez would have to say about this one. Or, better yet, Catholic League leader Bill Donohue.
thatguyfromboston
Does anyone have a picture of him in that get-up?
The Enemy
This is what happens when you don’t pay teachers enough.
Rt. Rev. Dr. RES
There are those who go to Halloween parties during the entire week, and not only party on Wednesday night.
Maybe the local Catholic League was having a fundraiser for President Bill Donohue’s crusade, on behalf of the Roman bishops, to fight chocolate in the form of a crucified Christ with genitals exposed . The fact, of course, that Christ was really crucified without any clothes whatsoever was sanitized by his predecessor during the Early Church.
On the way to the event, the Fifty year old solid uberconservative Roman happened to notice a heterosexual prostitutional area and stopped to teach them about the moral theology of the Church.
Mistakenly, and despite the fact that he was merely going to a Halloween party, a Protestant vice cop arrested him.
Tragic.
thatguyfromboston
While he was teaching them some morals, he decided to walk a mile in thier stilletto’s to illustrate his compassion, it was at this point that the police arrived. At this point he probably started saying it was all a misundertstanding, but i’m a teacher…at a catholic school. No sooner were those words uttered than the cuffs went on.
DavidDust
Very meaty, un-ladylike hands. I hope she wore gloves.
Chris in Louisville
Okay.
Just a few quick points that are glaringly absent from this post:
The guy, dressed as he was (which may or may not mean anything given the season) was on/near property that he owned, and rented to others.
There’s no evidence he was soliciting anyone. No news outlet has even bothered to mention he was the owner of property in the “high drug/prostitution” part of town he was in.
I know we all don’t like the Catholic Church; and for a ton of good reasons. But what is the difference between this occurrence and cops hustling drag queens and trans-sexuals? I’d be willing to wager none. As a “fringe” group (of which a number of people participate in these same or similar activities) we might have to judge a little later, and be a bit compassionate to this poor guy.
thatguyfromboston
I’m withholding compassion, at least until i see the photos.
leomoore
This actually plays well with the religious right. As far as those folks are concerned, it simply proves the sinfulness of homosexuality. They would never look beyond the surface to find why the man is the way he is, or why he would be so incapable of integrating all aspects of his personality into a whole. Do we know whether or not he was part of the persecution of gay people or was he simply a man who had a secret that has been discovered in a way guaranteed to humiliate him to a degree most of us cannot imagine. It seems to me a littly pity might be in order.
Dom
He seems like a pretty hot guy, too. I’d fuck him – but not in fishnets and leather. I just can’t imagine that he’d make a very good-looking woman.
Jack Jett
I’d spit fuck him in his fishnets with a nice bottle of poppers and some Jack Daniels.
Jack Jett
Rt. Rev. Dr. RES
The photograph suggests that he is wearing a wedding band??
Aside, you see, he was on a Halloween party route when he was collecting rents from his tenants.
This Catholic bashing must stop !! Imagine a parochial school principal engaged in those vile HOMO-sexual goings on.
You are absolutely right, Chris, I am sure that it is Halloween-related and that it had nothing to do with alley prostitution.
Matt
I’m with Chris on this one. Really, nothing would please me more than to bash another hypocritical rightie, but this guy’s not a politician, he’s a (presumably lay) principal. Sure, dressing up like a dominatrix may run afoul of some nitpicky Catholic dogma or other, but in the absence of evidence that he was reminding students that homosexuality is loathesome in his morning announcements, there’s no sign of anything other than an individual whose private behavior is at odd with his church’s — hardly the stuff of headlines. And unless Kentucky has some statute that criminalizes a man standing around in fishnets and falsies, there’s absolutely no evidence that he was engaged in any solicitation for prostitution — for heavens’ sake, he didn’t even tap his toes, according to the story here! This is NOT a story about “another” fundy politician caught in an amusing act of hypocrisy, it looks like more of a case of homophobic persecution by the police, and one that — since we’re now all about being inclusive of the Trans population, what with ENDA and all — we should be loudly condemning. This story seems to just join in the gay-bashing, frankly.
thatguyfromboston
I’ll run the camera Jack Jett
hisurfer
Those hands are kind of sexy, but they would clash with the fishnets. I agree with DavidDust – I hope she wore gloves.
I read the police report, and I can’t find the ‘crime’ in it. He was “observed loitering” and “had no reason.” Last I checked this wasn’t a crime, even in fishnets and leather.
shivadog
I love to see right wing religious types being humiliated as much as the next guy, but “loitering with intent”? What the fuck. That sounds like an excuse for cops to arrest people because they don’t like the way they are dressed. By the way, has this guy done any anti-gay stuff? That would make me feel better about the whole thing, even though I still think it sounds like a bullshit law.
Becca
I Love The Right-Wing Bible-Thumping Whack-Jobs.
Everyday they provide us with such wonderful entertainment.
The Right-Wing is imploding and I couldn’t be happier.
Rt. Rev. Dr. RES
If I am in the sanctuary, vested in alb, cincture, stole, chasuble and mitre and crozier in hand, with an episcopal ring on my right hand, you might conclude that I am about to celebrate a Eucharistic service, or I thought I would dress for a liturgical fashion show.
Loitering with intent to engage in lewd acts might be how the law is drawn. Aside from the fact that he just stood there like a statue, his gestures could have been more than suggestive??
NG
It’s interesting to note that some well known LGBT bloggers are making all sorts of excuses not to blog about this guy.
Some don’t see a comparison between the politician or the principal.
I do; Both take their money from an organization or entity that strives daily to deny gays and lesbians equality.
That’s why I blogged him today.
hisurfer
Yeah, Rev, we all know why he was in the alley. My concern, though, is with a law that seemingly has no limits. “Intent” is hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, and “loitering” laws have a history of being used indiscriminately against anyone that the mainstream disapproves of.
J. Smith
I have to agree that the “gotcha” anti-Catholic angle on this is way over the top. I went to a Catholic high school. The faculty there preached about social justice and nothing about fire and brimestone.
Instead of grinning about this, we should indeed be upset that the cops would pick him up for such a non-crime. If they get away with this, next time it will be an out-and-proud friend of ours getting arrested.
Chris In Louisville
I really need to register for this blog…
But anyway, the more I read about this crazy stunt, the more I really believe its based more on police misconduct than this man’s misconduct. Unless Louisville police are mindreaders, which I doubt, this guy is only guilty of running afoul of some fundamentalist anti-gay/racist/sexist cop, of which we have all too many.
He’s a former teacher at a prestigious school whose students, past and present, do nothing but praise. I think we should ALL be behind this man (no pun intended…) regardless of religion. Let’s face it, regardless of the Church’s views on anything, most of the catholics I know or have met are liberal, understanding, and decent, Cardinals and Popes and their opinions be damned.
I have a strong feeling this guy is not part of the Catholic anti-gay problem; and may even be part of a solution (i.e., encouraging open minded fairness). While we probably do have to reserve judgment, I hope we ultimately err on the side of compassion and don’t rush to condemn him because of his Catholicism like the Catholics rush to condemn us because of our predilection to buggery.
StXalum
A few things…
Number 1, I know Paul Schum. He taught biology at St. Xavier High School which is one of the best Catholic schools in the country. He is an extremely charismatic person, he was also the power lifting coach, and one of the best science teachers I’ve ever had.
What the writer insinuated in this article is wrong. This is not an example of right wing hypocrisy. This guy is not a right winger, he is a school principle with a PhD and it has nothing to do with politics. You don’t know what you are talking about.
I myself am a big Democrat, and I’d be the first to call foul if this was another example of rightwing hypocrisy, but it simply isn’t. If you were a student of this guy, you’d know that. He is anything but an avid rightwinger.
I hope he gets through all this, and he is innocent til proven guilty.
Rt. Rev. Dr. RES
Friends of Dr. Paul Schum.
First of all, mea culpa, for the seeming undertone of discompassionate prose emanating from my fingers yesterday.
Paul Schum is not the first gay or lesbian person to work and support the efforts of organisations whose official positions are homophobic and injurious to all, especially young adolescents struggling with their own psychosexuality within that institution.
Liberal voices – especially priest-theologians and religious women – have been officially silenced on pain of excommunication since 1978.
Since that time, the election of JPII, with the Rat in tow, liberal cardinals, archbishops and bishops were retired and replaced by uberconservatives. Now that Rat is Benedict XVI, he has issued encyclicals and pastoral letters on human sexuality that leaves nothing for the conscience to have primary definition over the Magisterium.
Today, with the paucity of religious vocations, lay teachers have replaced religious sisters and brothers and priests in the education of Catholic youth – an ongoing reality for the past quarter century when the Great Depression crop died or retired.
Let us be clear. Paul Schum is, by your witness, a wonderful person, an excellent educator, and a man whose personal political and spiritual views within bounds, is liberal Democrat and liberal Catholic. Paul also has, shall we say, eclectic sexual tastes, and could have been innocently cavorting on his rental property – clearly doing his thing, or attempting to – and the police used a rather broadly drawn ordinance to both entrap and arrest and charge him.
The result is awful for him. He will most probably be asked to resign, or worse. The particular outfit worn (in Halloween season gratefully) may or may not have any lasting effect, but the Catholic hierarchy, the bishop of the diocese, will have no choice but to follow the guidelines of the Pope and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops which are passive aggressively homophobic in my opinion.
I am genuinely sorry for his victimhood. However, I am genuinely concerned for the boys and girls in his charge, now and before, who saw him in closet in order to satisfy the precepts of his Christian witness.
Hitmebabyonemoretime
Oh, puhleeze. He was in the fucking Russell neighborhood which is known as hookerheaven and drugcentral.
It doesn’t matter what his ideology. The dude should have used some common sense and kept his kink indoors. There’s no excuse for slinging your fake titties in public, in an alley, in an area known for prostitution, when you are a fucking high school principal.
BTW, I don’t think he was hustling. I think he was looking for a big ol’ black man to make him feel like a real woman. Wasn’t he sitting in his car when he got found by the LPD?
Toni
Ok, so this Curtis guy might not have been a right-winger, but as the principal of a Catholic school, he was an active member of a group that promotes bigotry, intolerance, and disgust of sexuality. (I’d say that about most religions.)
Maybe the cop was a homophobe overstepping his bounds, but Curtis’ job involved creating the next generation of homophobes and closeted self-haters. Nope, I can’t work up one iota of pity for this guy.
Brian
FYI to anyone who reads this…Mr. Schum was found innocent. And as someone who knew him as a coach in high school, I can assure you that he was. He has the strongest character of anyone I know, so it is almost joke-worthy (only almost, becuase his misfortune was anything BUT funny) that HE would be targeted for this.
It is absolutely disgusting how the police and the media blew a HALLOWEEN COSTUME out of proportion.
Rudy
He had my total sympathy until he said he was mistaken for “some kind of crazy pervert.”
And something about him registers on my Closet Gaydar Meter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lstmS3RY-sc
Bitch, Please!
Catholic men make the best bottoms. You can do to them whatever the hell you want. They end up calling it penance!
blake
Queerty,
You should take this story down or update it. The man was found innocent of all charges. He was coming home from a Halloween party and stopped at his rental property.
It’s one thing to expose hypocrisy but it’s another to produce yellow journalism that can hurt an innocent person.