A teacher who worked 18 years in a Minnesota Roman Catholic school
was promptly fired after she announced that she is gay.
Kristen Ostendorf announced her sexuality during a teacher's
workshop on August 21.
“I'm gay. I'm in a relationship with a woman. And I'm happy,”
Ostendorft, 43, told her Totino-Grace High School colleagues.
The next day she was asked to resign. When she refused, she was
fired.
Earlier this year, the school's president, Bill Hudson, was forced
to resign after he acknowledged that he had been in a relationship
with another man for 18 years.
“I'm not a big fan of silence,” Ostendorf told the
MinnPost.com.
“I'm not a fan of leaving the unnamed elephant in the room. I
think silence is a huge problem. There's been criticism of Bill for
having 'kept a secret.' And I think, really? He was doing a job he
was called to do. But let's say he was keeping a secret, and I chose
to not keep a secret. We're both gone. And the sad story is, I'd
like to be the last person to be fired for who I loved, or for the
gender of the person I love. But I won't be, probably, and the
silence around it terrifies me.”
(Related: Students
protest firing of gay teacher Ken Bencomo.)