Green Bay Diocese Compares Being Trans to Sexual Abuse
The Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, released a new policy regarding LGBTQ students in its Catholic Schools that equates being transgender to being sexually abused.
The Diocese, led by Bishop David Ricken, published the new gender policy last month in its Education Policy Manual for the 2022-2023 school year.The manual explains how to “restrict” participation in the Catholic education of transgender students, staff, volunteers, and ally parents.The manual contains a section titled “Catholic Principles of Human Sexuality,” which promote current Church doctrine on sexuality and gender, including the idea that there are only two sexes, that every person’s body, as created by God, cannot be altered through social transition or medical interventions, and that heterosexual marriage is the ideal relationship for raising children and continuing the propagation of the faith.The manual also compares homosexuality or “expressing a gender that is discordant with one’s biological sex” with other sinful behaviors that are viewed as reprehensible or crude among polite society, including: the use of vulgar language, “immodest dress or deportment,” masturbation, pornography, fornication, adultery, cohabitating outside of marriage, obtaining an abortion, and sexual harassment or abuse.
Section 5045 of the “Education Policy Manual” mandates that trans and non-binary people be addressed as their gender at birth, rather than based on how they identify.Based on this understanding, schools are expected to refuse to allow trans-identifying children to use their preferred names or pronouns, access gender-specific facilities that do not match their assigned sex at birth, or take puberty blockers to prevent the onset of secondary sex.
