NEW: Catholic High School, Mount Saint Charles Alumni Mobilize to Reverse Transgender Policy

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Friday, March 04, 2016

GoLocalProv News Team

After GoLocal first reported that Mount Saint Charles is banning transgender students from the school, a petition was started asking school president Herve Richer to "leave the hateful rhetoric in the past, and accept trans students."

The petition, which was posted on the Facebook page "Concerned Alumni Against Mount," was started by David Coletta from Johnston. It had almost five hundred signatures by noon on Friday.

READ: See the Petition HERE

The petition reads:

Mount St Charles academy in Woonsocket, RI just disclosed that they will be banning transgender students from attending the school. This policy appears in the new student handbook. Sign this petition to let MSC know that all students with a desire to learn and excel should be allowed that opportunity, gender aside. Read more about this topic here: http://m.golocalprov.com/news/mount-saint-charles-academy-bans-transgender-students

School, Diocese Silent on Issue; ACLU Weighs In

School officials at Mount Saint Charles have not responded to repeated requests for comment.

On Friday, the Roman Catholic Diocese said it is declining to comment on the matter. 

"Any comment on this will have to come from the school," said Carolyn Cronin, spokesperson for Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.  "This is not a diocesan policy, it is a school by school policy, according to Diocese of Providence Catholic School Superintendent Dan Ferris."

The Rhode Island ACLU provided the following on the issue of civil liberties. 

"As a constitutional matter, the fact that the school receives some state aid is not sufficient to subject them to constitutional constraints, which generally apply only to government actions. There are, of course, separate *statutes* that ban discrimination in both public and private institutions, but many of those statutes have exemptions for religious institutions," Steven Brown, Executive Director of the Rhode Island ACLU, told GoLocalProv.

The Commission for Human Rights in Providence said that they "do not have jurisdiction of education issues."

"I can't comment on this issue, as we don't have jurisdiction over education issues," said Executive Director Michael Evora. "We deal with employment issues, and have dealt with issues of transgender policy.  As none of those has risen to the level of public hearings -- they've either been settled or dismissed -- I can't comment further on those."
 

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• UPDATED: Catholic High School Mount Saint Charles Academy Bans Transgender Students

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