A parent of one of the school’s students spotted the obituary, and wrote an anonymous letter to the school and to the Diocese of Columbus, saying that they couldn’t allow a woman like Carla to educate Catholic children. So they don’t, not anymore. In a termination notice, the principal explained that Carla’s “spousal relationship violates the moral laws of the Catholic Church.” That was the sum of the stated grievance against her, and after more than 18 years at Bishop Watterson High School, Carla, 57, was done.
Call me naive if you must. Call me stupid if you have to. Perhaps it’s having been raised Lutheran that taught me that God was a compassionate being- tolerant, loving, and willing to forgive Man his foibles and failings. As silly as it seems, I approached my adolescence believing that the existence of God could be boiled down to the Golden Rule- do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Suffice it to say that I reached adulthood only to discover that the God I believed in never existed. If He did, do you really think He’d tolerate such an anonymous coward as the moral reprobate who outed Carla Hale? As angry as I was after reading Ms. Hale’s story, I find it hard not to feel sorry for someone who would do something so despicable and cowardly. It must be a horrific burden living with such corrosive, all-consuming hate, all while deluding yourself into believing that you’re a faithful, God-fearing Christian.
It’s not God I fear; it’s His followers that scare the Hell out of me.
“Every morning,” she said, “from the time you walked into the building, kids would be yelling down the hall, ‘Hey, Miss Hale, what are we going to do today?’ ‘Hey, Miss Hale, I remembered those shoes.’ It felt so comforting.” She had a sense of belonging. Of purpose….
There’s so much in the media, and in this column, about the progress of gay rights, especially on the marriage front. But in the republic of Georgia just days ago, Orthodox priests led thousands of people in an antigay attack. In Greenwich Village, a young gay man was fatally shot in what’s been deemed a hate crime.
And at a kitchen table here in central Ohio, a typically cheerful woman dabbed her eyes and wondered aloud what she’d done wrong.
I imagine that the anonymous coward feels as if he or she did a good and righteous thing by outing Ms. Hale. In their sad and twisted world, it matters not how much good Carla Hale during her career. All that matters is that Hale is a lesbian…and therefore worthy only of marginalization and destruction.
Outside of the hatred and rank hypocrisy, perhaps the saddest aspect of this sorry saga is that it has its basis- or at least its justification- in Christianity. One irredeemable “Christian” hypocrite felt that their faith allowed them to destroy the career of a gifted, dedicated, and well-loved teacher. Carla Hale did more good before her second cup of morning coffee than her anonymous nemesis can manage in a month. Hale may have lost her job, but she towers over the hypocrite who felt justified in outing her as a lesbian.
If the anonymous hypocrite possessed even the barest shred of human decency and Christian compassion, they’d have owned their bigotry. It’s one thing to hate someone because they’re gay, but if you want to destroy them, shouldn’t you at least have the decency to sign your name to your letter? Shouldn’t you at the very least own your bigotry?
I hope that every time the anonymous hypocrite looks in the mirror they’ll recognize the person staring back at them and recoil in horror at what they’ve done. I hope that every day that remains in their miserable existence will find them suffering and remorseful…not that I for a minute believe that will happen. I imagine they’re probably rather proud of themselves. And I can only hope that there’s a very special place waiting for them in the Hell I don’t believe in.
It’s difficult to imagine an act more dastardly and cowardly. Hey, it’s What Jesus Would Do…right??
