Yesterday word trickled, then flooded out about students at Eastside Catholic in Sammamish, Washington igniting a massive revolt against the forced resignation of their school Vice President by the Diocese of Seattle. The reason for his termination? You guessed it. Mark Zmuda, Mr. Z, quietly married his male partner over the summer, and when word got back to the administrators in November, Mark was forced out. Today was to be his last day, and tonight his last meet as a swim coach.
But the students of Eastside had other plans in mind. They sent the hashtag #KeepMrZ2013 trending, reporters scrambling to cover their walkout, and other Catholic schools in the region joining in the protest in solidarity and threatening to strike as well. Their Change.org petition has already picked up over 10,000 11,000 12,000 15,000 signatures.
Pope Francis's recent statements about homosexuality have certainly set the stage for change to happen, but these kids.... they are the spark. I did not get to go to the protest, but from the video, blogs and twitter energy, it feels like something bigger could come of this, similar to the feeling from the early days of Occupy when it just felt like something was about to break open and then it did.
Over yonder billowing orange cloud for more...
These kids love their VP, Mr. Z. To hear them eloquently call for fairness and change to the Catholic church policies is so refreshing and so in tune with what the new Pope has been saying. They call out the church leadership for their picking and choosing of church doctrine to enforce. And these kids had finally had enough of the double-standards and demonization. They are, after all, some of the same kids I saw last week at the Macklemore show here in Seattle, cheering wildly and singing along with every lyric of his hit Same Love. They've moved beyond tolerance. They want acceptance and true Catholic Christian values like those Pope Francis is trying to bring us back to.
At Mr. Z's goodbye assembly, the students hatched a plan for a sit in to happen in their cafeteria.
That small start boiled over and outside the walls of the school, when the kids walked-out en masse. According to one report, the momentum kept building that the kids ended up on a busy street outside waving at cars and holding signs.
Meanwhile the word spread to the other schools.
The walk-out was slated to continue today, EC's last day before Christmas break. But a funny thing happened last night as meteorologists were tracking a small snow storm towards Seattle. Eastside Catholic was one of the very first, if not the first, school to announce they were closed today. Due to the weather. At 7 pm the night before a single snowflake had fallen.
No, Eastside Catholic administrators were attempting to put out that spark that they struck when they forced Mr. Z to resign. The students will be off today and back after a long cooling-off holiday break. But I for one hope they do not lose momentum. Please help boost their cause by adding your name to the Change.org petition.
Am I hopeful that this single action will make change to the policy that forced Mr. Z to resign? No. But it may be enough to set off a cascade of actions that grow. So I'm setting aside my cynicism and doing what I can to bolster these kids.
This is a big deal. Don't take my word for it.
UPDATE: Yes, there is going to be a protest today at 2 pm per the comments! Looks like other area schools may be taking advantage of snow days to help the rally at the Archdiocese headquarters today at 2pm