Life’s becoming more and more like a bad production of The Crucible every day. After news that a Catholic priest in South Carolina is denying communion to anyone who voted for Obama, comes a report that a Fresno, California woman was forced to resign from her position as President of a P.T.A. board after she attended a “No on 8” rally.
Robin McGehee’s 5 year old son Sebastian attends St. Helen’s Catholic School. After being alerted that Robin went to a vigil against Prop. 8 with her wife her wife Kathy Adams, the Diocese of Fresno ordered her to resign because she had gone against church teachings. Tiffany Rodriquez, the P.T.A. Vice-President resigned in protest over the decision.
In a letter to parents and teachers, McGehee wrote:
“It is with great regret that I compose this letter. Because of my decision to speak against a Proposition that would – and has – hurt my family, I have been asked to resign as President of the Parent Teacher Organization.”
St. Helen’s had long been aware that McGehee was a lesbian and she says she’s never made any effort to conceal her family. She is now looking for a new school for her son.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
The Gay Numbers
The only reason we forgot the crazy things that the right wingers used to do on a smaller scale is that Bush has been in office so they placed their energy into larger frames. Now that their national power is at a nadir, they will becoming more and more whacko. I fully expected within a year or two to start to here about a revitalization of such things as the militia movement from the 90s.
UK MUM
Things really are starting to turn sinister! For God’s sake it’s the 21C. Everyone should have a right to lead the lifestyle they choose as long as they are not hurting anyone
Tarcash
Its a sad day, but you would expect it. With all the issues over people giving money to Yes on 8 and having to resign, or being lambasted in the public eye, or outright fired, you wouldn’t expect the reverse to occur?
This is getting way out of hand. Yes, boycotting a business will let them know that you refuse to give your hard earned (or not) money to someone who will vote to take away your rights. Don’t forget that they have their own views as well, their clubs, their groups, their businesses.
You can’t get upset at something like this if you enjoy the fact others loose their jobs over voting against gay marriage.
Judicious use of boycotting is the best answer. Screw a person over giving $1,000 to a campaign? As long as you expect the same in return.
People should NOT be the targets of boycotts. I can’t believe I am saying this, but its true. Win in the courts and the public opinion. Doing stupid crap to ruin other people’s lives is not right, and causes more harm.
Yes, this is civil rights, and it is a battle, if not war. Gorilla tactics don’t work here. Regardless of how we do in the courts, we still must show the public we are not out to hurt them, but win them over with logic and compassion.
Nick
Well, I guess now we have a focus for a march on Fresno. Surely there are angry Central Valley gays willing to protest?
Nick
?@Tarcash: Ugh. Do you really think personal boycotts are “gorilla tactics” (I assume you mean that they’re “guerilla tactics,” by the way, but I digress)? How do you expect we’re going to make an impact, make the news, make this an ISSUE without them? They may be “mean,” but after each of these people voted and/or gave money to strip me of my civil rights, I think my conscience can deal with the fact that it may be THAT much harder for them to run a Mexican restaurant, etc. etc.
Tarcash
@Nick: Would it not be better to reach out and try and educate someone on the harm they have done, rather than harm them in return?
I’m saying its not necessarily a good idea to punish an individual because they are ignorant, misinformed, coerced by a church or otherwise stuck on their own bigotry. You reach out and try to help them first, before you go and pull money away from them. For an individual person, you may do much more harm to your cause than good.
Now if the business or CEO or what have you donates, that is different, but a worker? Aren’t we better than that?
OK, so if reaching out to educate or help doesn’t work, then do what needs to be done.
Bob
@Nick: Would it not be better to reach out and try and educate someone on the harm they have done, rather than harm them in return?
We already tried that. It didn’t work. Now it’s time to get in their faces about their bigotry.
Robin McGehee
@Nick: Hi Gang! Thank you for posting this very sad event in our lives and to Nick’s comment that there must be some angry Gays – the answer is yes! We just took over 100 protesters to the California State Capitol last Sunday and we will be protesting at Fresno’s City Hall this Saturday. The oppression of the marginalized has got to be responded to and we can never agree to be silent again!
Mike
As a non-American, I am pretty disturbed by the response of American gays to the removal of their rights.
My God, people, they just came and took away your rights and you’re putting Katy Perry on the cover of Out magazine? Katy Perry?! The pop star who celebrates drunken straight girls kissing is your most celebrated gay icon at this moment? I am floored. Do you hate yourselves that much? Really?
Why are so many of you so damned timid? Have your lives become so comfortable, so rich with iPods and SUVs that you aren’t bothered by trifling matters like the removal of your rights by hateful bigots? During the Vietnam war, Buddhist monks, who are *defined* by always taking the Middle Way, took to the streets and protested. You should be in the streets demonstrating peacefully, but very, very assertively, and not in the hundreds or thousands, but in the millions! What has been done to you, what continues to be done to you, is NOT OKAY. Do not roll over and play dead. Do not just hope that someday it will get better, that the Mormons will stop hating you, that the black people will stop hating you. The Mormons DO hate you and your country allows them to vote away your rights. Don’t stand for that!
I am appalled and shocked by the complacency of so many gay Americans. Some of you are raging mad, but it seems so many of you are not. Why the hell are you leaving your defense to sympathetic straight people like Keith Olbermann? Take to the goddamn streets!
You should have more dignity and self-respect. You are OKAY. You can demand to be treated as if you are OKAY.
Robin McGehee
@Mike: Amen, today, Melissa Etheridge will be talking about Prop 8 on Oprah – a woman who only TRULY spoke out (with her amount of influence) until well after she knew we were losing. Ask her how much money she donated – not, the $500,000 she is talking about taking away from the State of CA in taxes. Shame on any one who is not promoting more active voices in our LGBT community. EVERYWHERE there are people who are offering their efforts because of social obligation to create a better climate for LGBT people everywhere. Put that on the cover of your magazines, on your talk shows and get some one to make a hit song about that – as Martin Luther King, Jr said years ago, yet rings so true today – “Injustice anywhere, harms justice everywhere” – may we all be determined to make a difference.
Mark
What did these people expect? The church has a doctrine. They don’t get to pick and choose which parts of it they want to support. Let them start their own churches, or better yet, leave religion behind altogether.
Robin McGehee
The problem is hypocrisy – telling me that I am fired because of my public face to oppose a proposition that is in direct opposition of the church – while others are at the church and school with choices that are in direct opposition of the church is wrong and unfair. We were completely out from the beginning of our son’s enrollment and I, as a representative of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, had spoken publicly about LGBT issues – so, for what ever reason – there is an effort to silence me. Their freedom of religion does not trump MY freedom of religion and their freedom of speech, does NOT trump MY freedom of expression.
Tara - Praenomenal - Nee, Matthew
@Robin McGehee: Hello Robin, I was once a student of yours and worked in the Pride Club at COS. I am so angry about this. I am up in Portland Or Now and we will be having a rally tomorrow as well.
We can do this!
Alan down in Florida
Robin I think you should contact the Lambda Legal Defense Fund. Somehow being fired for the exercise of your free speech rights sounds like a law suit waiting to be won.
Best of luck to you and your family. May your love grow stronger through these tribulations.
Mark
@Alan down in Florida: What about being fired because you are publicly advocating for things diametrically opposed to the principles of the organization you’re affiliated with?
Free speech does not mean people can’t refuse to deal with you when they don’t like what you say. No one’s free speech is being denied here.
Should a gay rights organization be forced to employ someone who spoke out for Prop 8? No? Then the Catholic church should not be forced to associate with someone who opposed it.
Vinman
@Robin McGehee: Robin,
Are there any women in the church that have had an abortion? Are there any people in the church that have had a divorce? These are all “against” church doctrine. Who decides who to punish and who to just “overlook”?
L
Mark,
It appears that they did not eject her son. So the school is willing to take Robin’s money, they just fear her leadership role in the PTA. Maybe it’s different in RC world, but I thought the parents choose the president of the PTA. In any event, this is a very real story about how church orthodoxy is more important than the lives of children and how money and power is supreme. It is appalling.
Brian Miller
@Mike:
Uh, Mike, you’re pretty damn clueless about American gays if you think the cover of Out Magazine is a barometer of what we’re saying, doing and thinking.
Brian Miller
Mark is right that the Catholic Church should face no government consequence over their bigotry on this.
That does not mean, however, that they shouldn’t face public confrontation, criticism, and boycott. Too many gay people have been willing to accept a “down-low” sort of status from major religious organizations, and keep sending them cash.
Hopefully, people will wake up to this soon. As someone who was raised in the Catholic Church and abandoned it due to its anti-gay pogroms and its structured rape of children in its care, I think it’s long past time for it to be confronted.
Charles J. Mueller
What Tarcash really means, is turn the other cheek…and don’t forget to say “Thank you. May I have another smack, please?”
Don’t you just love these “Don’t make waves: guys?
The black community had to burn a few cities down to get anyone to pay attention to their plight. Boycotting anti-gay businesses is “gorilla tactics”?
I prefer Big Stick Ideology, myself.
The term originated from the phrase “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far,†a West African proverb.
I’m just sayin…..
Charles J. Mueller
You are spot-on, Mike. As a 72 year old fart who has been actively campaigning for civil-rights since the days of Stonewall, I am pleased that gays are once again taking to the streets, as they did in the day. It brought results then, and I hoping that it will again.
That said, I will be one of the “millions” protesting in the streets in front of the Courthouse in Tampa, Florida tomorrow afternoon. And while you state that you are a non-American, I sincerely hope you will join us in the streets tomorrow as well.
You sound more Americans than some of the dumb fucks commenting on these blogs. 🙂
We will overcome!
Robin McGehee
@Tara – Praenomenal – Nee, Matthew: WOW Matthew – fantastic to hear that you are in P’land and I’m so happy to know you are staying active in the movement – keep up with me so I know how you are doing – and, I’ll let you know if I come your way.
sparkle obama
@Nick:
grow up!
sparkle obama
@Charles J. Mueller:
grow up!
sparkle obama
@Robin McGehee:
good luck robin
i’m sorry about your situation.
scapegoating and attempting to silence individuals is wrong, and un-american.
we will ultimately win this fight, but we have to keep our heads and fight hate with love.
gay people have to rise above and resist mimicking the tactics of our (for now) enemies.
peace!
Charles J. Mueller
Ah…we’ve heard from Sparkle Farkle….again!
“Grow up”….that’s it…”grow up?”
Yu must have sat up all night figuring out how to post that blog.
Simple minds = simple responses.
Phoenix (The One Who's Read The Constitution As Opposed To Some Of The Commenters On Queerty)
Well, this is not a huge surprise with Pope Prada-Heels anti-gay rhetoric and the Knights of Columbus helping to pass Prop H8. But why would any GLBTQ person support the Catholic Church (and the Nazi Pope) with their money? Why send your children to be indoctrinated by these people? It seems rather foolish.
sparkle obama
@Charles J. Mueller:
no, i meant it.
you need to GROW UP.
quit blaming other citizens for excercising their right to vote
and take the issue of equal civil rights for spouses/gay families to the supreme court.
your undisciplined anger and wilingness to blame and scapegoat is regrettable and negative.
if you can’t speak and act correctly and with respect for others who are different from you, you will never be asked to sit at the grown folks’ table.
be like p.e. obama and work within the system by using logic and showing respect.
fight hatred & ignorance with love, strength and compassion – not with more hate/(willful?) ignorance.
sparkle obama
@sparkle obama:
ps fight ignorance w/love, strength, compassion
*AND HUMILITY!*
homo, please!
KeleeMaree
Robin was the main speaker at the rally today. Since I am from Dinuba, I didn’t know about this story. She almost broke into tears because of how this upset her. I actually did cry because she didn’t want to in front of everyone. We cried FOR her. Then her adorable little son came out and gave her a hug later. The fact that she is a lesbian makes her no less of a person, or parent.
horus
as an ex catholic i find it puzzling that robin would choose to be that out with a catholic school that she chose to have her son attend. if you want to have your son go to school there, fine, but be on the board, totally out?
i went out of my way to be disaffected from the church, and i have my letter framed, hanging over my desk. i think robin needs to move on, and be happy she has a family.
just a word to catholic officials, priests, nuns, bishops and cardinals, and that ex nazi you call a pope -i will make it my little sacrifice to see that your organization receives it’s comeuppance.
Dawn Braithwaite
You read about the treatment of Robin McGehee, after Prop 8. Robin and her wife Kathy had their son, Sebastian, enrolled in Saint Helen’s School and Robin was President of the PTO (Parent Teacher Organization). After Robin spoke out in the community about Prop 8 in California, she was asked to resign her role in the PTO. This has been in the Fresno news media:
http://www.kmph.com/Global/story.asp?S=9333937
I have found the address for the school and have written them a letter protesting their treatment of Robin, Kathy and their family. I asked Robin permission to pass this along. She sent the names of the players (see below).
I am asking you to consider writing a letter or email to this school in protest of their treatment of Robin and their family. If you are so inclined, the information is below:
Mailing Address:

Saint Helen’s Catholic School
4888 East Belmont Avenue, Fresno, California 93727
Phone: (559) 251-5855
Fax: (559) 251-5948
[email protected]
Principal Dr. Toni Amodio
Father Sal
Fresno Diocese Office of Education – Richard Sexton
Website: http://www.sainthelensfresno.org/
Stanford!
Robin McGehee is an angel of our community. I have no doubt that this offense will only make her, and all of us, stronger. I pity those who stand against the unstoppable strength of history in the making.
McBoston
Wife just Volunteered to be Auditor for local PTA at my daughters school and went to get training and thought she was in the wrong place because the room was full of dikes as she said it. As a parent that is sending my child to public school I really don’t want Lesbians and Gays deciding the Sex education of my child by taking over and forcing children to watch their sex education videos that have been produced by Gays and Lesbians trying to indoctrinate children into the gay lifestyle. If my child turns out to be gay that is fine, I will still love her but I really think it is not appropriate to be teaching in the schools. Parents get upset hearing about Gay priests but aren’t concerned with Lesbians as President of PTA organizations across the country? It is not the Gay & Lesbian’s Parent Teacher Association. It is just the Parent Teacher Association and last time I checked you still need a male and a female to create a child and a Parent despite the local sperm bank that makes Lesbians think that they are normal parents even though they still needed a male. If a Catholic School has a Lesbian Parent as it’s PTA leader it is perfectly within it’s rights to terminate her because it is a Private, Religious School that espouses Christian beliefs. If you don’t have the same Christian beliefs why are you there? Maybe you are trying to appear “normal” and hope that somehow by being accepted(under false pretenses) that somehow your gay lifestyle
will suddenly be accepted by the Church. The Christian belief is that Marriage and Parenthood is created by a man and a woman coming together in a Sacred Sacrament. So even if Prop 8 went the other way-people of Faith would still not recognize it is a marriage even if the law did. I am for equal rights for gays and lesbians who want to be together for life. All the pension benefits, healthcare, hospital visitation rights etc. Just don’t call your union a marriage because it is not-call it a partnership whatever but not marriage because there is power in words and you diminish the power of a very sacred and ancient word that has been around for centuries meaning one thing. Why should the 90% of the population that does not live your lifestyle have the sacred term marriage taken away from them so you can have your rights? Get your rights by all means but not at the expense of millions of Christians in the world. If the “PTA Mother” in question wants to join a School or Religious School that accepts her lifestyle then noone is stopping her. It is a FREE country but at the same time-realize that if a private religious group does not accept your beliefs they can’t be legally forced to. I am a Dad and realize that I cannot go become a Girl Scout Den Mother. Why is it so shocking to a Lesbian that a Christian Church School does not want her in their PTA because she has practices and beliefs that are TOTALLY against their faith? Maybe I should go join the local Transgender group even though I am not transgender and see how long they keep me there? Is it really anyone’s right to join a Religious Organization when their religious beliefs are completely opposite of the organization. I am not trying to get into Jewish, Muslim, Hare Krishna Schools because that is not my faith. The school that the “Mother” brought their child to was also teaching their child the Christian Faith. This is the exact opposite of the lifestyle of the child’s parents. Don’t the “Moms” think this would be very confusing and unsettling for their child? Why would they want their child to get a Christian education when their lifestyle is not living within the faith?
I guess I just don’t get why Gays and Lesbians are trying so hard to get into a club that doesn’t want them? It would be like a Gay or Lesbian person going to a straight bar trying to pick up someone of the same sex. Why set yourself up for such failure? Just wondering. I know many people will be angry about my posting but I do not have any anger or hatred towards gays or lesbians. I am just trying to understand but I sometimes don’t feel like Gays & Lesbians want to “Live and let live” it feels more like they are forcing me to accept gays as married and I cannot because my faith tells me so. I am praying that all gays and lesbians feel God’s love and peace and that they come to an understanding that my wanting(and millions of others)marriage to stay the term meaning between a man and a woman doesn’t mean I don’t love them and want them to be happy in their same sex unions.
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