Resolution Condemning the Firing of Gay Educators at Kennedy Catholic High School

February 20, 2020

WHEREAS, the Archdiocese of Seattle forced the resignations of two beloved educators, Paul Danforth and Michelle Beattie, at Kennedy Catholic High School because they are planning to marry their same-sex partners and

WHEREAS, there has been an ongoing crisis of racial slurs and intimidation against students of color, and

WHEREAS, in 2012 MLK Labor recommended endorsement of the Washington statewide campaign for Marriage Equality, Referendum 74 and the King County labor movement stands for LGBTQ rights, workers rights for all educators, protection for all students and young people against homophobia and racism, and support the empowerment of educators, students, and community, and

WHEREAS, the separation of church and state exists to protect secular society from the dangers of fanaticism, not to protect homophobic bigots from the laws our progressive democracy,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, MLK Labor condemns the hateful actions of the Archdiocese of Seattle, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we demand Kennedy Catholic High School conform to the standards of civil rights towards educators at public schools that are defined by state law, and conform to the highest social justice standards on the job, won by unions in King County including reinstatement and making whole of Danforth, Beattie and any other educators past or present damaged by anti-LGBTQ discrimination, and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, we demand that Kennedy Catholic High School honor workers’ right to a voice on the job that can protect them from discrimination and that KCHS agree to voluntarily recognize a union when a majority of educators wish to organize, and finally

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that MLK Labor commits to the protection of all POC and LGBTQ workers and students in our community regardless of whether they are members of unions or not, and opens ourselves to support them and their families in the ways they see fit.