In a recent lawsuit, a teenager claims that she was expelled from her prestigious Catholic high school because of her sexual orientation. 17 year old Amanda Acevedo claims that she was targeted by homophobic school administrators at Preston High School for bringing a female date to a school dance. After two years of discrimination, Acevedo was finally expelled in September. To read more, click below.
Acevedo claims that her dean, Joseph De Bona, began to target her when she went to her sophomore dance with another girl. Although she had permission, the teenager talks about how De Bona pulled her to the side to grill her about her date. Acevedo says that the dean asked her if she and her date were more than friends and issued threats against “funny business” going on between the two. This September, Amanda got into a fight with another girl in a locker room and was expelled from the school. John Acevedo, Amanda’s father, claims that the dean took that opportunity to get rid of his daughter. He also claims that the dean lied about the fight, making Amanda the instigator in her first school fight. More than 200 classmates signed a petition for Amanda’s return, City Councilman James Vacca and state Sen. Jeff Klein wrote letters in her defense as well. A judge issued a temporary order in October to all the teenager back in the school, a decision Preston High School is fighting against. The Acevedos and Preston High School will be back in court November 12th.
Good Luck to Amanda! It seems like a lot of bs that Preston is making her deal with. It confuses me, how Catholic institutions will rally behind a priest accused of sexual abuse to keep his secret safe, but will make a student’s year difficult because of her sexual orientation. Not for nothing, isn’t it their religious philosophy to accept and treat people, no matter what their beliefs/practices, with love? I feel it’s hypocritical of a Catholic high school to banish a student, whether because of her sexual orientation or because she had a fight, before embracing her and guiding her through her decisions. 200 council men and state politicians would not band together in defense for this girl, for no reason.
