An online petition in Wisconsin aims to stop Pride Prom due to ‘Catholic values’

An online petition was making rounds in order to stop Wisconsin’s Marquette University’s Pride Prom from taking place.

Marquette University is Jesuit Catholic affiliated.

The petition

The petition, which was started in September 2017 and garnered over 18,700 signatures and 2,300 shares on Facebook, was started by TFP Student Action. TFP stands for Tradition, Family, Property.

The petition page reads:

‘While Catholic students fight to preserve moral values on campus, Marquette University — a Catholic institution in Wisconsin — plans to host an event that destroys moral values: “PRIDE PROM 2018.”

Announced as a “first,” the pro-homosexual prom is sponsored by the LGBT+ Resource Center on campus and is open to people of “all ages.” According to the university’s website, the event will take place in Marquette’s AMU Ballrooms on April 14, 2018.

‘What is worse, the “Pride Prom” is scheduled in the same building where Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist is present. To avert this sacrilege against the Most Blessed Sacrament, please join the peaceful protest.’

Though not directly affiliated with Marquette University, the TFP organization aims to ‘resist, in the realm of ideas, the liberal, socialist and communist trends of the times and proudly affirm the positive values of tradition, family and private property.’

Responses

‘People say that we have made so many strides with gay marriage being legal, that’s true, but we still have so much further to go, and this petition really exemplifies that,’ said Maria Bunczak, a sophomore at Marquette who was involved in planning Pride Prom.

Bunczak is also president of Empowerment, an intersectional feminism club on campus, which co-sponsored the event.

Despite the negativity of the petition, Bunczak sees it as motivational.

‘It makes me excited that people hear what I’m saying and see what we’re doing as an organization, and that they aren’t just seeing it and going “oh, whatever.” They’re seeing it and reading it and reacting to it,’ she said.

‘Seeing that someone is against our mission helps fuel us even more because these people and this sort of thing (are) the reason we do what we do.’

In a statement, the university stood with the organizers of Pride Prom.

‘Marquette strives at every level to foster a culture of inclusion, which means we are a community that respects, welcomes and promotes a sense of belonging. We support our LGBT community in ways that are both pastoral and educational, recognizing that they have an important voice that we must include in our conversations,’ the statement reads.

Regardless, the petition didn’t stop these students. Pride Prom went on as scheduled on Saturday, 14 April.

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