Beloved Gay Teacher Fired, Refuses Bishop’s Gag as Families Mourn
Grieves his community as he offers his heart
I promise you this story is not boring, even though the Roman Catholic witch-hunt against gay staff has become so ordinary that people almost don’t get outraged about it anymore. Even loving Catholics who abhor their Church’s persecution of LGBTQ people often shrug their shoulders. What can we do, they ask. That’s an excellent question Matthew LaBanca wants you to consider. As a member of a large Irish Catholic clan, I ask the same. Will you listen?
Matthew paid a steep price to bring you this question —
I learned about it this morning from Prism & Pen writer John Cormier, who once performed with Matthew in a national tour of the Broadway musical Crazy for You. Matthew is a professional actor/singer who has played principal roles on Broadway, has sung with the Metropolitan Opera and NY Philharmonic, and who practiced enough to make it to Carnegie Hall. An album he sang in won a Grammy.
But this story isn’t about Matthew’s professional accomplishments. It’s about how he loves teaching and directing music, which is how earned his living until a couple weeks ago.
