notre dame

Students at a Catholic university in Portland are petitioning their school to do something new: Write sexual orientations and gender identity into the school’s non-discrimination policy.

Last week, students with mouths covered in duct tape paraded around the campus of the University of Portland to end what they say has been a legacy of discrimination at the school.

This same conversation is happening at Catholic universities all over the country, as increasingly queer-friendly young people come up against university’s traditional, anti-gay policies. Both Notre Dame and the Catholic University of America have had very public discussions about the role of schools in requiring a strict adherence to Catholic orthodoxy as students on campus pushed to create gay-friendly student groups.

Word came yesterday: The University of Notre Dame has hired Brian Kelly away from the University of Cincinnati to be its new football coach. Kelly, a pro-choice Catholic with extraordinary coaching skill and success, takes the job just six months after the a strong segment of the Notre Dame community protested President Obama's commencement address at the premiere Catholic university, citing Obama's pro-choice beliefs as its point of discontent.