MT. PLEASANT, Mich. — The day before a Mt. Pleasant author was scheduled to speak at a local Catholic school, he was informed classes were canceled “as a result of concerns related to school safety and student privacy."
The author, Dominic Thrasher, said the "concerns" stem solely from the fact that he's gay.
“What I was taught in Catholic school was built on love and acceptance to all," he said. "[The organization] is choosing not to love and accept all.”
Thrasher said it's still hard to understand his reality. He said he became an author to inspire children and instead feels like he's being portrayed as a threat — again.
This started back on March 13.
RELATED: Openly gay Mt. Pleasant author crushed by apparent comments from local pastor
About a week after Thrasher was invited to read one of his books to a pre-K class at St. Joseph the Worker School for March is Reading Month, the priest at the associated church, Father Tom Held, posted this on Facebook:
That post sparked outrage in the community, with several people calling for Father Held to be fired.
About 100 people even staged a peaceful protest ahead of mass Saturday morning.
However, the Diocese of Saginaw backed the priest, telling FOX 17, "The pastor appropriately responded to those concerns within the parish community in a way that recognized the guest’s privacy."
Before this story started going viral, Thrasher had already been scheduled to speak at nearby Sacred Heart Academy Elementary on Thursday, March 21.
Wednesday night, March 20, he got an email from the school's assistant principal that read:
“As a result of concerns related to school safety and student privacy, we will not be in school tomorrow, March 21. Therefore, we will not be holding the reading activity.”
“I have been born with a really bright light, and that bright light is going to burn as bright as humanly possible," Thrasher told FOX 17 Thursday. "I know that that bright light can be threatening to some people. They’ll want to steal that flame, or they'll want to put that flame out, but I will never allow that to happen.”
Thrasher said he still hasn't fully healed from what happened at that school 12 years ago. As a Sacred Heart alum, who went there every year from k–12 grade, he was asked to give a commencement speech but was then uninvited, he said, because of his sexuality.
Thrasher doesn't believe this is an issue with the school itself.
"It's not Sacred Heart Academy that is making the choice," he said. "It's those higher up in the Saginaw Diocese. They keep making the decision.”
On Tuesday, March 19, Thrasher did receive a different email from the school's assistant principal that said, "This is in the hands of the diocese."
FOX 17 has tried to get in touch with the Diocese several times since last week.
On Monday, Cormac Lynn, the superintendent of schools, met with parents about the situation at St. Joseph the Worker but was not available for an interview.
We have also reached out to both schools and churches — St. Joseph the Worker and Sacred Heart Academy — but no one has been able to fulfill our request for a comment so far.
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