How Kennedy Catholic students stood up to Seattle’sarchdiocese

Youth SHOCKWAVE

How Kennedy Catholic Students Stood Up to Seattle’s Archdiocese

“Activism and social movements are the moral compass of implementing positive change in private institutions like schools,” says student leader

FOR YEARS, YOUNG PEOPLE have been speaking out on issues important to their generations, from military action to civil rights, and from gun control to climate change. And if anyone ever wondered about the impact of these voices, just ask the Archdiocese of Seattle.

It began in Burien on Thursday, Feb. 13th, when a decision was made at John F. Kennedy Catholic High School which sent shockwaves through the student body. The Seattle Times and other news outlets later reported that English teacher Paul Danforth and health teacher/girls soccer coach Michelle Beattie were told their contracts would not be renewed for the coming year after the school and Archdiocese learned both were engaged to their same-sex partners. Both subsequently resigned.

Never flaunting their lifestyle atschool, both Mr. Danforth and Ms. Beattie were highly regarded by the students. ASB Secretary Emiliano Hernandez, an 18-year-old senior, regarded them as his “unofficial counselors.” Hernandez says, “I could go to them with anything you could ever imagine. If I had a bad day, they could always uplift me…always give me good advice. They were the equivalent of a best friend.”

The sudden dismissal and quick exit of Mr. Danforth and Ms. Beattie spread through the student body like wildfire on social media. Within hours, students and parents alike were trying to get to the bottom of what happened.

The student body quickly mobilized to stand up for their beloved teachers. “She (Beattie) was like a second mom to me,” said senior MJ Estacio, 17. “Both have done so much for me and supported me throughout my years at Kennedy. So I felt like it was my responsibility to fight for them now.”

This was the sentiment of a majority of students. Even self-proclaimed “quiet girl,” Madison DuBois, 18, “felt like it was my job to help the teachers.” A senior at Kennedy Catholic,

Kennedy Catholic High School Students protest outside of the highschool in Burien

Audrey Bettis, 12th grade and Karanja Anderson, 11th grade

DuBois and her mother were both motivated to do whatever they could to help and to show “they have a community who love and support them.”

Within a few days, concerns had come to a fever pitch giving rise to a student orchestrated sit-in/walkout protest set for Tuesday, Feb. 18th. ASB leaders reached out to their counterparts at nearby schools as well as other Catholic high schools within the Archdiocese. Students and parents from other schools came to support those at Kennedy Catholic; the response was massive with local news outlets covering the story live as students chanted “separate, church and hate” in front of a banner which read “Who would Jesus fire? #LoveisLove.” Days later, a follow-up protest was organized at the Seattle Archdiocese in First Hill.

Through an online and in-person campaign the students demanded the reinstatement of both Mr. Danforth and Ms. Beattie, as well as a public apology. Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne placed principal Mike Prato on a leave of absence a few days later. In addition, a letter from Archbishop Etienne was sent to the school staff stating, “It is abundantly clear to me that our Catholic schools are serving a much broader community than in the past.” The letter also mentions they will be creating a special task force to investigate how to “I WANT THEM adapt to the current times and meet the needs of all TO BE PROUD theirstudents.

What is happening at Kennedy Catholic High School AND NOT BE is just the latest example of young people coming to PUNISHED gether and shining a light on the social injustices. These FOR IT.” students call out the establishment on their shortcomings and guide them to a better solution. experiences is so essential with these

Sosna Araya, 16, the junior class prestypes of social movements.” ident at Kennedy Catholic High School The students are now planning on how remembers with frustration that Mr. Danto build upon the current momentum. forth and Ms. Beattie had to hide their Araya says, “Next year, when I’m a senior, rings when they got to school. “I want I’m gonna try to keep advocating and adthem to be proud and not be punished vocate for people of color too.” for it. It’s not fair to love someone and With every new generation, these have to hide it.” young activists get smarter and even

Eighteen-year-old senior HenryLemus more informed. They get more strategic Vera, who is openly gay and takes pride and goal-oriented. The students underin being a young social justice activist, stand they need to take steps to change felt this conflict needed to be tackled bethe teachers’ contracts, so this kind of cause “activism and social movements discrimination doesn’t happen again to are the moral compass of implementing another Paul Danforth or Michelle Beattie. positive change in private institutions like They acknowledge their actions are just a schools.” He says, “Having that spark which first step in a bigger and longer fight. connects you to other people with shared Teachers like Mr. Danforth and Ms.

We take pride in being your financial partner.

11th graders Samantha Griffin and AlicePare.

Beattie help shape these young champions for social justice stand up for what they believe by setting an example. “They gave us the tools to be better people and fight for what we believe in, and to be who we are,” says Estacio.

Hernandez adds, “They motivated us to be better people and we are who we are today because of them.” That is why these students put their education on the line by risking their scholarships with the school to stand up for what is right.

Throughout all of this, Lemus Vera hopes they “never stray from wanting to work with young individuals.” He goes on to say, “They radiate a lot of love and they radiate a lot of intelligence that would help someone going through a hard time.”

From local students at Kennedy Catholic High School to Greta Thunberg of Sweden, the voices of these young avengers are only getting louder and stronger by the day and are heard all across the country and around the world. Their voices are young, focused, organized and articulate. They speak about a wide variety of issues, and these young, vibrant minds will be our future leaders. u

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Together For Pride

Seattle Pride Goes Virtual, June 26-28

This year’s Pride celebration may not include the signature parade, but Seattle Pride and its sister organizations, Gender Justice League and Seattle PrideFest, are joining forces to produce Together for Pride—a virtual Pride weekend which will surely be one to remember.

The three-day (June 26–28) celebration will bring together elements from the organizations’ respective festivities—Seattle Pride Parade, Seattle Pride in the Park, PrideFest and Trans Pride—to create a weekend of free virtual fun and interactive online experiences at TogetherForPride.org.

For each of the three days, one organization is taking the lead in developing engaging program offerings—Trans Pride will curate Friday; PrideFest, Saturday; and Seattle Pride, Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Each day will offer a full schedule of program tracks, and featured sessions within each.

Seattle Pride’s programming will culminate the three days with four program tracks supporting its Many Faces, One Pride theme—Speakers, Activities & Activism, Performance and Q&A/Interactive. The programming will be a mix of live and recorded 20- and 40-minute sessions—as well as brief intermissions between each session and a mid-day lunch break during which attendees will be encouraged to order food from a queer-owned business.

In addition to the program sessions, Sunday will also feature a Virtual Vendor Village—in which online attendees will be able to visit a wide variety of vendor “booths” in a virtual version of Seattle Pride in the Park (formerly known as the Volunteer Park Pride Festival).

The jam-packed day of LGBTQIA+ fun also includes virtual performances by the musical acts originally slated for Seattle Pride in the Park.

Headlining the musical performances will be Washington artist and radical indigenous queer feminist, Black Belt Eagle Scout. Other fan favorites will include CarLarans, Chong the Nomad, Fly Moon Royalty, Latinrose, and Stephanie Anne Johnson & The Hidogs.

Following the Virtual Pride programs, attendees are invited later that evening to relive the pageantry of Seattle Pride Parades with a special retrospective of past parade highlights hosted by Seattle Pride’s Official TV Partner KIRO 7 on-air and online at 11:30p.m.

“In a year when our sponsors are hugely impacted by COVID-19, we are especially grateful for their continued support,” said Seattle Pride Board President Alex Ruble. “Our sponsors, partners and vendors are showing up when we need it most.”

For more information and the latest updates to the list of featured speakers, performers and more, visit SeattlePride.org. Also be sure to follow Seattle Pride on Facebook and Instagram at @SeattlePride, and on Twitter at @OurSeattlePride. At press time the sessions were in the process of being planned, but here’s a sampling of the early confirmed sessions with something for everyone:

Interview with student activists from Kennedy Catholic High School

Speaker Katie Hultquist from OutRight International discusses the impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQIA+ communities

Seattle Sounders youth soccer clinic featuring Brad Evans

Performances from Seattle’s favorite Drag Queens & Kings

Speaker Ori Turner presents “Intersex is Awesome”

Kids Storytime with the Tooth Fairy from Delta Dental of Washington

Speaker Monserrat Padilla addresses immigrant and refugee communities

Interview with historian about Vashon Island’s LGBTQIA+ history

The Show Must Go On!

Seattle Pride’s annual celebration of queer arts, music, performance and culture—Seattle Pride in the Park—is going virtual this year, because the show must go on!

This year the musical performances will be a highlight of the third day of the Virtual Pride weekend, hosted by SeattlePride.

The music lineup, which celebrates LGBTQIA+ arts, features nationally recognized local artists. The festival will feature popular drag queen Betty Wetter, KEXP’s Marco Collins, and DJ Penny Wide Pupils—and will be headlined by Washington artist and radical indigenous queer feminist, Black Belt Eagle Scout.

For more information and the latest updates to the list of featured speakers, performers and more, visit SeattlePride.org. Also be sure to follow Seattle Pride on Facebook and Instagram at @SeattlePride, and on Twitter at @OurSeattlePride.

Black Belt Eagle Scout Black Belt Eagle Scout’s Katherine Paul has been heralded as a favorite new musician by the likes of NPR Music, Stereogum, and Paste, and whose debut album, Mother of My Children, was named “Best Rock Album of 2018” by Pitchfork and garnered further praise from FADER, Under The Radar and more. The squalling guitar anthems of Mother of My Children are replaced in her second album Atthe Party With My Brown Friends, with delicate vocal and soft keys, sentiments spoken and unspoken, presenting something shadowing and unsettling: a stirring of the waters. Having grown up on the Swinomish Indian Reservation in Northwest Washington, Black Belt Eagle Scout reimagines the best things that the Pacific Northwest has to offer through an unmistakably queer and indigenous perspective. Black Belt Eagle Scout is expected to deliver an unforgettable performance.

The highly anticipated musical lineup also includes:

CarLarans CarLarans is an electrosoul and hip-hop artist who believes in using the human voice as a weapon for good is kicking down the door of bigotry and racism to help create a space for QTPoC.

Chong the Nomad In each of her distinct compositions, Seattle electronic music producer, Chong the Nomad, unleashes storms of song that embody both the delicate raindrop striking the single tree leaf and the looming clouds that burst and quench an entire forest.

Fly Moon Royalty Bleeding with all the heart and soul of blues and R&B, the duo combines the contemporary aesthetics of modern-day electronica and hip-hop. The collaboration of the Seattle-based duo is a perfectly fitting contradiction.

Latinrose Latinrose expresses her roots in all she does musically. Latinrose has been singing and songwriting in the Seattle hip-hop scene since she was a teen and has had the honor to be on 15 albums, and has performed at almost all of the venues in Seattle.

smiles Celebrate love and

Stephanie Anne Johnson Johnson is the front person for Tacoma-based band, The Hidogs. Her music is rooted in all that’s American, expresses the pain of the past, the roots of the down home, and the hope that hard work will lead to proper reward.

inQUEERy Summer 2020

1 Disability 2 Dom. Violence & Sexual Assault 3 Elders 4 Food, Clothing, & Services 5 Health & Wellness 6 HIV/AIDS 7 Housing 8 Legal 9 Res.ources & Education 10 Subst.ance Abuse 11 Support Groups & Life Skills 12 Trans & Gender Expansive 13 Youth & Family

ORGANIZATION LOCATION

PHONE

Our mission has always been to connect folks to our history and community, and now we’re adding services. The Seattle area has tons of resources for LGBTQIA+ folks from food and housing services to support groups and leadership development.

inQUEERy will be updated quartely, but you can check out our website for the most current information, including more resources.

WEBSITE

ADWAS (Deaf women’s abuse) Seattle Aging with Pride Seattle AHAT (AIDS housing) Tacoma AIDS Project of the Deaf National Alliance of People with disAbilities Seattle API Chaya Seattle AsylumConnect National Attain Housing Suppers Kirkland Bothell Community Kitchen Bothell Cascade AIDS Project Vancouver Cedar River Clinics Seattle Center for MultiCultural Health Seattle DAWN (domestic abuse) Tukwila DESC (emergency services) Seattle Elizabeth Gregory Home Seattle Entre Hermanos Seattle Family Equality Council National Friends of Youth Kirkland Gay City Seattle GenPRIDE Seattle GLSEN - Washington Seattle GSBA (business directory) Seattle HEYO (youth health) Seattle Ingersoll Gender Center Seattle KentHOPE Kent

Lambert House Lavender Rights Project Lazarus Center Lifelong LifeWire Mary’s Place Mature Friends NAMI Washington NCSF (sexual freedom)

Seattle Seattle Seattle Seattle Bellevue Seattle Seattle Seattle National 206-922-7088 800-558-8703 253-272-5533 206-328-4808

206-545-7055

206-325-0325 –425-576-9531 425-486-7132 360-750-7964 800-572-4223 206-461-6910 425-656-7867 206-464-1570 206-729-0262 206-322-7700 646-880-3005 425-869-6490 206-860-6969 206-393-3400 206-330-2099 206-363-9188 206-957-1665 206-849-7859 253-480-2325

206-322-2515 206-639-7955 206-328-6336 206-957-1600 425-746-1940 206-621-8474 — 206-783-4288 410-539-4824 adwas.org age-pride.org aidshousingtacoma.org deafnonprofit.net/dap

disabilitypride.org

apichaya.org asylumconnect.org attainhousing.org bothellumc.org/bck capnw.org cedarriverclinics.org cschc.org dawnrising.org desc.org eghseattle.org entrehermanos.org familyequality.org friendsofyouth.org gaycity.org genprideseattle.org glsen.org thegsba.org lifelong.org/heyo ingersollgendercenter.org kenthope.org

lamberthouse.org lavenderrightsproject.org ccsww.org lifelong.org lifewire.org marysplaceseattle.org maturefriends.org namiwa.org ncsfreedom.org

Seattle Pride’s Resource Guide

Don’t see your organization listed here? Need to update your contact information? Offering new services? Send an email to noah.wagoner@seattlepride.org and we’ll hook you up!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

ORGANIZATION

New Beginnings New BoyZ Club NOW (women’s org) NQTTCN (QTPOC therapists) NW Network (domestic violence) Oasis Youth Center Out of the Closet Thrift Store OUT There Adventures OutRight Action International PEER Seattle PFLAG - Seattle Pike Market Food Bank Planned Parenthood - PNW POCAAN (POC against AIDS) POPY’s Cafe Rainbow Center ROOTS (young adult shelter) S.I.S.T.E.R. (sex therapist) SAGE Seattle Counseling Service Seattle Indian Center Seattle Pride // Seattle Out & Proud Seattle Prime Timers SHARE/WHEEL Solid Ground: Broadview Sound Generations Sound Mental Health St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Stonewall Youth Teen Feed The Trevor Project (suicide hotline) Trans Lifeline (trans hotline) Transform Burien Outreach Within Reach YAES (young adult shelter) YNHS (health services) Youth Care Youth Eastside Services YWCA of Seattle/King County LOCATION

Seattle Olympia National National

Seattle

Tacoma Seattle WA State National Seattle Seattle Seattle Seattle Seattle Shoreline Tacoma Seattle Seattle Olympia Seattle Seattle

Seattle

Seattle Seattle Seattle Seattle Tukwila Seattle Olympia Seattle

National

National Burien Seattle Seattle Yakima Seattle Bellevue Seattle

PHONE

206-522-9472 — 206-632-8547 —

206-568-7777

253-671-2838 206-302-2040 608-772-2883 212-430-6054 206-322-2437 206-325-7724 206-626-6462 206-328-7734 206-322-7061 206-363-8100 253-383-2318 206-632-1635 206-522-8588 –206-323-1768 206-329-8700

206-322-9561

–206-448 7889 206-299-2500 206-448-5757 425-653-4900 206-784-3119 360-888-4273 206-522-4366

866-488-7386

510-771-1417 206-839-6620 206-284-2465 206-374-0866 509-249-6232 206-694-4500 425-747-4937 206-461-4420

WEBSITE

newbegin.org

olympiaftmgroup.webs.com

nowseattle.org nqttcn.com

nwnetwork.org

oasisyouthcenter.org

outofthecloset.org

outthereadventures.org outrightinternational.org

peerseattle.org

pflagseattle.org

pmfb.org

plannedparenthood.org pocaan.org

princeofpeaceshoreline.com

rainbowcntr.org rootsinfo.org sextx.com sageolympia.org seattlecounseling.org seattleindian.org

seattlepride.org

seattleprimetimers.org sharewheel.org solid-ground.org seniorservices.org sound.health stlukesseattle.org stonewallyouth.org teenfeed.org

thetrevorproject.org

translifeline.org transformoutreach.org withinreachwa.org nhmin.org ynhs.org youthcare.org youtheastsideservices.org ywcaworks.org

Faces of Pride

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