On the heels of my last two posts, you’d think we’ve made great strides in gender equality. Then we get hit with a smackdown like this one…
Pastor Kathy Escobar was recently asked to lead a high school baccalaureate service in a small town near Denver, Colorado. The school told her they wanted a female pastor who would as Kathy states “inspire the kids & open up some doors that hadn’t been opened previously.”
Sounds like a great idea, right?
Kathy was excited about it until she received an email a few weeks later that effectively rescinded her invitation.
Why?
Because she’s a woman.
I’m not making an assumption here and neither is Kathy. She point blank asked them if it was about her particular beliefs or if it was because she was female.
Guess what? It was her gender.
Here’s how it went down according to Kathy in her blog post titled “Why sometimes I get sad”:
“yesterday i got an email from him letting me know that unfortunately when the other pastors and leaders found out that a female pastor was speaking, they banded together to reject the idea. they said they couldn’t listen to someone they didn’t agree with and strong-armed a very conservative evangelical into the spot instead.
his email was so kind, and he was so sad that his hope got hijacked. he tried to fight the good fight and just couldn’t make it happen. i ended up talking to him on the phone just to make sure i was clear what he was really saying and didn’t misunderstand. i asked, “so, is it really just the woman pastor thing or is it about my beliefs or ?“ he said that the woman thing was definitely the main issue, the deal breaker, and anything that remotely is connected to the word “emerging” was just icing on the cake.”
“the woman thing was definitely the main issue, the deal breaker”
That is mind-boggling. If I were a student at that particular high school, I would be screaming “discrimination” and organizing a boycott of the service. I’m particularly angry that the school chose Kathy and then buckled under the bullying of some local clergy who didn’t want a woman to speak. What on earth are you teaching your students about sexism?
P.S. – if anyone from the school would like some protest materials, I would be happy to send you some posters and stickers with the Girls Can’t WHAT? Pastor design on it. Contact me to work out the details.
3 comments
gretchen
Yeah I could see her not getting asked in the first place, but to be asked by the school and then told not to come because other clergy in the community don’t want a woman speaking? That’s just ridiculous. Shame on the school for not standing up for themselves. I hope the students are outraged enough to do something about it. I certainly would be.
Kel1
I could understand someplace really conservative not wanting perhaps a more “liberal” member of the clergy speaking at a service (though even that’s a stretch for a public high school), but not including her because she’s FEMALE?? Unacceptable.
I recall a local female pastor was the main speaker at my high school baccalaureate service. And she was African-American. Now, there’s someone in a position to really be a voice and inspiration, you know?
Meghan
I really feel like religion isn’t included often enough when we talk about the areas where girls and women are not present. Just like anything else, how can you can get a true sense of religion or spirituality without both male and female spirit included in the conversation? I hope enough people speak about this so she gets her chance to speak. Thanks for posting!