Out Boulder County blasts Catholic Archdiocese guidelines

The head of Out Boulder County wants Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila to meet with LGBTQ+ youth at the organization’s headquarters in Boulder to help put an end to “harmful ideas' ' about LGBTQ+ people in the Colorado Catholic Church.

The invitation comes after the Denver Archdiocese released a document this week, entitled “Guidance for Issues Concerning the Human Person and Sexual Identity,” for Catholic schools. The Archdiocese instructs the schools not to re-enroll transgender or gender non-conforming students and to treat gay parents differently than heterosexual parents, according to an Out Boulder County news release.

“Out Boulder County is deeply troubled by this guidance and the danger it poses to members of our community,” the news release states. “It demands that school staff discriminate against LGBTQ+ youth and increases divisions in our communities.”

Mardi Moore, executive director of Out Boulder County, has released a video strongly condemning the Denver Archbishops guidance. Moore has also extended an invitation for the Archbishop to visit Out Boulder County’s Equality Center of the Rocky Mountains to speak with LGBTQ+ youth and people of faith, the news release states.

“We hope the Archbishop will take this opportunity to educate himself and put an end to harmful ideas about LGBTQ+ people in the Colorado Catholic Church,” according to the news release.

Moore said in the news release that of all the religious trauma that she has seen in the LGBTQ+ community due to “hateful beliefs and teachings,” that caused by the Catholic Church is among the most egregious.

“I hope that the Archbishop will take me up on my invitation to visit the Equality Center of the Rocky Mountains and meet with LGBTQ+ families of faith,” Moore said. “These misguided and dangerous actions are a poignant reason why membership in the Catholic Church continues to decline.”

Michael Duffy, Out Boulder County’s director of Education and Research, said in the news release that the church’s guidance is out of step with the love cultivated in many LGBTQ+ families.

 “This hateful guidance reflex on the Archbishop, not on the value or values of the many Catholics who are LGBTQ+ or LGBTQ+ affirming.”