back to Niagara Falls Reporter archive
The writers of "Saturday Night Live" couldn't have crafted a funnier skit than what went down in Toronto recently.
Seventeen-year-old Marc Hall is like most 12th-grade students around this time of the school year. He's eagerly awaiting summer vacation and the 70-odd days of complete non-responsibility that blow through the July and August nights of a high-schooler not quite ready to be a prime-time player in adulthood.
He's also greatly looking forward to his prom.
Marc's palms were sweating and his heart was racing when he nervously asked the object of his affections to be his prom date. He felt the blood race giddily to his head when he heard the sweetest three-letter word carry back to his ears -- yes.
Marc fretted over his choice of a tuxedo. Cummerbund or no cummerbund? Patterned vest or ruffled shirt? Bow tie or open collar?
Marc wondered if he should borrow the folks' car or spring for a limo.
And of course, Marc kicked back and forth the most delicate prom-related issue faced by teens -- will I look presumptuous if I reserve a motel room for the night? In the end, all of those questions were moot because Marc's principal banned him from the prom. Marc wasn't banned because he got into disciplinary trouble. Neither was he banned due to poor grades.
Marc Hall was banned from attending Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic High School's prom because he is gay.
And that's what is so hilarious about the whole affair. In defending the action taken against Marc, Suzanne Scorsone, spokesperson for the Catholic Archdioceses of Toronto, said, "The church is unequivocal in its proscription of homosexuality. People have a choice as to whether they attend a Catholic school or not, and once they do they must acknowledge the rightness of the teachings."
Come again?
I realize that news travels slowly up north, but doesn't Scorsone realize that Pope John Paul II just concluded an unprecedented summit with America's cardinals to address the sex abuse scandals which have rocked the Catholic Church?
Furthermore, doesn't she realize that the overwhelming majority of those abuses were homosexual in nature?
While Roman Catholic priests may not have any more of a tendency toward homosexuality than any other professional class, clearly there is a problem.
That is not to suggest in any way that homosexuals are of a higher inclination to be sexual predators. Take away the celibacy requirement for priests and I think you'd see the abuse numbers fall exponentially.
What I do wish to illustrate is the absolute absurdity of Marc's school in attempting to ban him from the prom. I say attempting because, to his credit, Marc isn't taking this lying down. He has sued his school for the right to attend the prom. He has also asked the court for $63,000 in U.S. funds for damages.
What makes the suit especially interesting is that Catholic schools in Canada are publicly funded. The outcome of the lawsuit is expected to have far-reaching consequences as to how much power a Catholic school will wield in enforcing its doctrines in a institution of learning built and maintained by taxpayers.
Scores of politicians and gay and lesbian groups have circled the wagons around Marc's fight. Many of them were shocked to hear school board members compare homosexuality to alcoholism in an attempt to defend their position on the ban.
Fortunately, Marc has most of the school population and his family on his side.
One of Marc's schoolmates, Alicia McAuley, was quoted as saying, "They teach us that God created people equally, but they say homosexuality is wrong and against God. That's like saying God was making a mistake when he made Marc. That's just not right."
Marc's mother, Emily Hall, put things into the proper perspective. "It's not God who is rejecting my child here. When I go to church, I don't pray to the school board, I pray directly to God. The church has to open its mind. It has to change," she said.
If this whole mess were a "Saturday Night Live" skit, I know how it would end.
Marc would tell the school that he was withdrawing his lawsuit.
Then he would escort to the prom a date that no one on the school board could possibly object to -- his priest.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | May 7 2002 |