<p>Last month the Sisters of Mercy in San Francisco decided to&nbsp;continue&nbsp;the employment of Gabriel Bodenheimer (pictured below)&nbsp;a transgender man at Mercy High School.&nbsp;<br /> This flies in the face of recent trends within Catholic institutions to fire or expel LGBTQI employees and volunteers who choose&nbsp;not&nbsp;to hide who they are opting instead to love who they love and be their authentic selves. As a coalition of Catholic organizations&nbsp;that have spent more than 120 years combined working on behalf of lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people and their families we do not want this small victory to go unnoticed!<br /> We invite you to send letters of thanks to the Sisters of Mercy in San Francisco and a copy to Archbishop Cordileone so that the Sisters of Mercy and Archbishop Cordileone both understand&nbsp;that the Churchthe people of Godsupport the Catholic values of dignity mutual respect and inclusion.</p> <p>Sister Laura Reicks RSM President<br /> Sisters of Mercy West-Midwest Region<br /> 7262 Mercy Road<br /> Omaha NE 68124<br /> Email:&nbsp;sgoetzinger@mercywmw.org&nbsp;(assistant)</p> <p>Diane Lawrence Board Chair<br /> Mercy High School<br /> 3250 Nineteenth Avenue<br /> San Francisco CA 94132<br /> Email:&nbsp;zwan@mercyhs.org&nbsp;(office manager)</p> <p>Gabriel Stein-Bodenheimer<br /> Mercy High School English Department<br /> 3250 Nineteenth Avenue<br /> San Francisco CA 94132<br /> Email:&nbsp;gbodenheimer@mercyhs.org</p> <p>Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone<br /> Archdiocese of San Francisco<br /> One Peter Yorke Way<br /> San Francisco CA 94109<br /> Email:&nbsp;info@sfarchdiocese.org</p> <p>For more information including suggested letters visit our coalition at <a href=http://www.equallyblessed.org>Equally Blessed</a>.</p>