Supporters of fired Eastside Catholic principal launch national day, foundation
Jan 30, 2014, 6:28 PM | Updated: Jan 31, 2014, 7:57 am
The effort sparked by the firing of a popular Eastside Catholic vice principal for his gay marriage continues to grow, as organizers launch a national day dedicated to raising awareness of the clash between the Catholic Church and gay rights.
The day is being dubbed “Z Day” in honor of Mark Zmuda, who lost his job in December after administrators at the Sammamish school learned he had married his gay partner.
His departure prompted a series of protests and global attention, and led to the resignation of president Sister Mary Tracy earlier this month. The movement was recently profiled on the front page of The New York Times.
School officials have said Zmuda would not be rehired. Alumnus Corey Sinser says while his supporters have not given up hope for his return, they are setting their sights on a much broader agenda.
“We really want to use this day as a jumping off point to begin standing up for the next Mr. Z who gets fired unjustly, for the next workplace discrimination fiasco involving sexuality or otherwise,” he says.
As part of the effort, the organizers are calling on people nationwide to wear orange and stand up at 10 a.m. in a show of solidarity, and post pictures on social media.
Sinser admits the timing isn’t great, considering it’s also Blue Friday and many people will be wearing Seahawks gear, and they just happened to pick the Denver Broncos orange as the color for the day.
“In a way it’s kind of almost poetic. We’ve been standing up for these issues the past month and facing so much adversity so in a way to have to deal with that is almost kind of fitting,” he says.
The day culminates with a panel Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Seattle to discuss the intersection of faith and sexuality.
In addition, the group is announcing the formation of a new foundation headed by Zmuda and his supporters.
“Mark has said he is so humbled wants to stand up for others,” Sinser says. “We all believe we have this duty to take this momentum that we’ve started and use it to effect change in the greater community.”
