CLEVELAND — The LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland has put together a petition calling for the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland to reverse its new policy relating to "sexuality and gender identity."
The policy, signed off by Bishop Edward C. Malesic and Chancellor Vincent Gardiner on August 30 and implemented on September 1, impacts everything from LGBTQ+ expression, to gender-affirming care, and use of bathrooms. It includes the barring of use of "preferred pronouns," as well as "prohibiting social transitions, surgeries, or medical treatments that seek to ''transition" the person to a sex or gender inconsistent with his or her God-given biological sex."
The diocese says the new policy applies to "all offices, parishes, parish schools, and diocesan schools of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland (each an 'institution') as well as their employees, personnel, volunteers, students, and youth participating in parish or institutional faith formation."
You can read the complete Catholic Diocese of Cleveland's "Parish & School Policy on Issues of Sexuality and Gender Identity" below:
"The LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland is gravely disappointed in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland's new anti-LGBTQ+ policy and the harmful rhetoric towards the LGBTQ+ community," the center wrote in its petition. "The repressive culture and othering that will be fostered further by the hurtful policies documented in this statement is a massive setback in creating an affirming community in Northeast Ohio. The Center remains in solidarity with our robust Cleveland LGBTQ+ youth community and calls upon the diocese to reverse its policy."
