Catholic high school students protest after gay teachers “voluntarily resign”

Students at Washington's Kennedy Catholic High School staged a sit-in, and then a walkout over a controversy surrounding two former teachers who supporters say were fired for being gay. KING's Natalie Swaby reports.

February 19, 2020

NBC News,

BURIEN, Wash. (NBC News) Students at Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien, Washington staged a sit-in, and then a walkout, Tuesday over a controversy surrounding two former teachers who supporters say were fired for being gay.

The two teachers, Paul Danforth and Michelle Beattie, “voluntarily resigned” from Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien last week, according to a statement from school officials.

The Archdiocese of Seattle echoed Kennedy Catholic’s statement February 14, saying the teachers voluntarily resigned and that they cannot comment further due to it being a personnel matter.

But Danforth’s fiancé, Sean Nyberg, said Danforth “is no longer employed specifically because he and I got engaged.”

Nyberg proposed to Danforth late last year during a trip to Disneyland and the news of their engagement reached school officials.

Beattie also resigned because she is engaged to her same-sex partner, according to Nyberg.

“Paul has asked me to keep anything I know, even feel, confidential. He stated that numerous times, and I’ve chosen not tom” Nyberg said. “I feel if I didn’t do that none of this would have happened. So this partly guilt.”