OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Lexi McClung and Matt Zajic both identify as gay and graduated from Catholic schools, a tricky situation to navigate as a teenager.
"I came out later in life, after college, when I truly became who I am and that partly was me leaving the Catholic faith," McClung said.
"You have religion classes where you're taught what's right in the Catholic eyes, so I just sort of sat back and went with it," Zajic said.
But the Archdiocese of Omaha is releasing guidelines these two find exclusionary. The guidelines say "one's gender is determined by one's biological sex, there can be no separation between the two."
Here are some examples of the guidelines.
"We would only use pronouns associated with the person's gender at birth or sex at birth, no uniforms that might be in opposition to their gender/sex at birth, locker rooms, bathrooms, only would be from a gender/sex at birth," Deacon and Archdiocese Chancellor Tim McNeil said.
But Creighton University Professor Todd Salzman finds fault with the policy since gender is also influenced by culture.
"A deacon from the South Pacific came to visit and he was wearing a skirt, according to this policy, that would be a violation because a man is wearing a skirt because that's their culture. So what are the parameters for making a judgment?" Salzman said.
The rules would apply to students, staff and even volunteers. The document also says "all pastoral care is defined primarily by love."
Salzman and Zajic beg to disagree.
"The Church is prioritizing a very narrow, ethical issue above all other ethical issues," Salzman said.
"It's at some point not worth it to change who you are every day because that's draining and kids shouldn't have to do that. So I think if I was in that situation today, I don't think I could have stuck it out 'til graduation," Sajic said.
The policy goes into effect on Jan. 1. See it below.
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