The Catholic archbishop of Denver this week called out Regis University’s provost for encouraging faculty to attend a student drag show as a way of supporting LGBTQ students, and suggesting they avoid language that reinforces the gender binary — including saying “ladies and gentlemen.”
In a letter to faculty last month, Provost Janet Houser also warned teachers at the Jesuit-Catholic university in Denver not to take class attendance using the official roster, since this might involve accidentally using “a student’s ‘dead name’ — a legal name that they no longer go by — which can be very upsetting for transgender students to hear.”
Though Regis did not provide The Denver Post with a copy of the letter when requested Thursday, its contents were reported earlier this month by the Catholic News Agency.
Archbishop Samuel Aquila, the top Catholic official in the state, said Regis leaders never discussed those initiatives with him or his staff, and that “this guidance is not in conformity with the Catholic faith, despite the attempts made to justify it as rooted in Jesuit values.”
In a statement posted Tuesday on the Archdiocese of Denver’s website, Aquila noted that Pope Francis has decried the notion of gender fluidity as a type of ideological colonization. He quoted the pope as saying, “Today, children — children! — are taught in school that everyone can choose his or her sex. Why are they teaching this?”
“I echo the Holy Father’s question,” Aquila wrote. “Why is Regis University promoting and teaching an ideology that is contrary to what we know from the Scriptures? In Genesis we read, ‘God created mankind in his image — male and female, he created them.'”
The request by Houser and the Queer Resource Alliance was made in an Oct. 29 letter to faculty in response to fears that the Trump administration is considering policy changes that would eliminate federal protections for transgender people. In October, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would seek to define gender “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science. objective and administrable” for the purposes of the federal Title IX program.
The letter encouraged Regis faculty to remember that they may have students in class, including queer students and queer students who are not out yet, who are struggling with the implications of the Health and Human Services announcement. Houser suggested faculty members attend an on-campus drag show featuring student performers along with other campus events commemorating the Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 15.
The letter from Houser and the Queer Resource Alliance also encouraged faculty to refer to students by their preferred names and pronouns, and suggested they assign texts from queer and especially transgender authors. Faculty members also were encouraged to “add your preferred gender pronouns to your email signature (for example, ‘she/her/hers’).”
“The provost shared the Queer Resource Alliance’s recommendations because our Jesuit values call on us to respect the human dignity of all individuals, to care for the whole person, and to serve the most marginalized members of our society,” Regis University said in a statement. “Our faculty and staff strive to care for all our students with the respect, sensitivity and compassion they deserve, and to celebrate everyone’s gifts. We will continue to do so in a manner that fulfills our mission and upholds our Catholic, Christian conviction that all lives are sacred.”
Houser couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.
Aquila, in his message this week, wrote that the “deconstruction of human sexuality has already introduced great confusion into society and it is not in conformity with the Catholic faith.”
“For those who struggle with their sexual identity,” Aquila wrote, “it is important to accompany them with compassion, helping them to encounter Jesus Christ, who can bring them healing and lead them to their true identity as sons and daughters of the Father, unlike the false freedom promoted by gender theory.”
Updated Nov. 16 at 10:50 a.m. Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the Catholic News Agency.
