Gay Sacred Heart alum speaks at CMU Sunday instead of brother’s graduation

New York resident and Sacred Heart Academy alumni Dominic Sheahan-Stahl appears on a live skype feed April 27 in the schools gymnasium. Sheahan-Stahl was approached by the school to be the keynote speaker for the graduating class of 2012, but was later rejected by administrators once they learned he was openly gay. Sheahan-Stahl plans to take his commencement address to Plachta Auditorium May 20. (Chuck Miller/Photo Editor)

Dominic Sheahan-Stahl is not going to be quiet quietly.

The openly gay alumni of Sacred Heart Academy may be disinvited from speaking at his alma mater for the graduation ceremony of his younger brother William, but he still plans to be heard.

Instead, Sheahan-Stahl will speak at 1 p.m. on Sunday in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium. He said he plans to give essentially the same speech he would have given at the graduation happening that same day.

“My speech that I was going to give had nothing to do with being gay or homosexuality whatsoever,” he said. “It was about fear and facing those fears. This one is going to be about fear and not letting anything stand in the way of achieving your dreams.”

The space was set up for him by Anne Groves, a family friend whose son graduated with Sheahan-Stahl. Groves called Sheahan-Stahl after hearing he would not be allowed to speak and offered him any help she could.

Groves said the space cost somewhere between $1200 and $1400. She is currently attempting to get donations from local businesses.

She said it was God’s providence that Warriner Hall was available for Sheahan-Stahl to speak on the same day of the graduation.

“It’s really special that it’s Sunday because the seniors have so dearly wanted to keep Dominic (as part) of their graduation day,” Groves said. “Doing it this way, they can go to mass, go to hear Dominic at 1 p.m., then go back to their school at 3 p.m. to graduate. So in their own way they can stand their ground.”

Sheahan-Stahl’s father, who William is named after, died the year Sheahan-Stahl graduated from Sacred Heart, Groves said. All the children in the family went to Sacred Heart. It would have been a full circle if he had spoken at the graduation of the youngest child in the family, she said.

“It would have been a beautiful statement for their family to let him speak at his younger brother’s graduation,” she said.

Principal Dennis Starnes held an open assembly last Friday saying he was supportive of Sheahan-Stahl, but the final decision was not up to him.

The Saginaw Diocese responded with a statement that afternoon by Bishop Joseph Cistone, saying Sacred Heart had not contacted them about the situation.

Cistone did, however, cite the 2004 Speaker-Presenter Policy on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, saying: “(those) who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles … should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”