Reasons Queer Youth Should Not Attend The Catholic University Of America

Who are they to judge?

1. CUA is willing to defy the law in order to exclude and alienate LGBTQ youth.

CUA Allies / Via Facebook: cuallies

The Catholic University of America has denied CUA Allies from official recognition as a student organization for the third time. This student organization does not promote gay marriage or gay sex, it simply exists as a safe community space for all LGBTQ students and allies. This heartbreaking blow occurred despite overwhelming support from students, families, and staff, as evidenced by this petition.

This action defies the D. C. Human Rights Act, which states that entities receiving federal funding shall not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. In 1988, Georgetown University took queer students to court over a comparable issue and lost.

2. Innocuous events that celebrate the history of the LGBTQ community have been canceled/postponed.

Via washingtonpost.com

In October, 2014 the university forced the official student organization, College Democrats, to cancel their event, "Milk and Cookies." This event included a viewing of Oscar-winning film, Milk. Apparently, a film detailing the life of Harvey Milk and a flyer with a rainbow flag was considered advocating for a gay lifestyle.

A petition was filed and the group was later permitted to host the viewing.

3. University professors publish research that suggests that children of same-sex parents are damaged and broken.

Ed Pfueller / The Catholic University of America / Via faculty.cua.edu Department: Department of Sociology

Catholic University professor Donald Paul Sullins produced a paper entitled, "Emotional Problems among Children with Same-Sex Parents: Difference by Definition." The heavily biased paper fails to acknowledge the role of a heteronormative society in the mental health of children with same-sex parents. If anything, this paper should be a call to action for organizations who perpetuate homophobia.

4. The CUA Anscombe Society invites individuals to speak on campus who have spread hateful rhetoric about the LGBTQ community.

This official student organization hosted a discussion with Robert Oscar Lopez, hoping to learn more about his experience with same-sex parents. Lopez has compared gay parenting to slave ownership and "creepy child abuse." He has stated that gay-rights advocates on the left can, "go play in traffic." Somehow, his appearance on campus was in line with Catholic social doctrine, unlike the Milk viewing.

5. The university's actions do not align with their own community pledge.

Via community.cua.edu

Ironically, all actions stated above occurred within a community that pledges to: "reject and witness against bullying and violence toward women or men of any race, creed, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status, or persons with disabilities."