Dear Editor:
Colin Collette was discharged from his position as music director at Holy Family parish in Inverness in 2014, shortly after he announced his engagement to his longtime partner, William Nifong.
To his credit, Collette has chosen to fight the employment discrimination forced upon him. The archdiocese rejected arbitration in the case, and has also barred Collette from seeking employment in other diocesan churches. Now, the archdiocese, having failed to get the case dismissed in federal court, will have to defend its discriminatory behavior.
The man directing the discrimination at Colin Collette is, of course, the archbishop of Chicago, Blase Cupich. This is the same Cupich who opposed marriage equality in Spokane, Washington, before arriving in Chicago.
Avoiding the harsh rhetoric of his predecessor, Francis George, Cupich takes a softer tone toward LGBTQ people. But like George and Pope Francis, Cupich defends the same old bigoted teachings, and practices the same old discrimination. Cupich is the church's smiling enforcer in Chicago. Until anti-gay church teachings are dropped and employment discrimination is stopped, LGBTQ people will be welcomed into a church that treats us as second-class human beings.
Bob Schwartz
Chicago