Fired gay educator headed to White House

THE NEWS, once received, prompted former Waldron Mercy Academy educator Margie Winters to scream.

She told the Daily News that she "screamed with joy"when an official with the LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign informed her yesterday afternoon that she and her wife would be guests at tomorrow's White House welcoming ceremony for Pope Francis when he arrives in Washington, D.C.

"We're absolutely elated [and] overjoyed," her wife, Andrea Vettori, said last night. "You can't put into words something like that."

Winters added that she felt "disbelief that this would be happening. Such a symbolic invitation . . . It's wonderful that the White House is so open to the LGBT community."

The two will leave for the nation's capital tonight and will head to the White House in the morning. They will be among 15,000 guests expected to greet the pope on the South Lawn.

Winters was at the center of a local controversy over the summer that turned into a national debate when she was fired from her job at Waldron Mercy Academy for her same-sex marriage. Winters said that the Sisters of Mercy, who run the Montgomery County school, were aware of her marriage.

Many parents at the Merion Station school rallied behind Winters and protested the school's action.

Many parents said they believed that Archbishop Charles Chaput had sought the dismissal, but Archdiocese of Philadelphia officials have repeatedly denied the claim. Waldron parents have since met with administrators in private to discuss the firing and to smooth over hard feelings.

Vettori wrote to the Vatican over the summer seeking a meeting with Pope Francis.

"There's no word on that. Certainly it would be exciting if that were to happen," Vettori said.

If the pope does meet with them, Winters said, she first "would tell him we love him and have appreciated his openness to all people. Ask him to listen to stories of the LGBT community."

Winters and Vettori will be busy this week of the World Meeting of Families, taking part in an alternative LGBT Catholic conference. The couple will participate in a news conference introducing pilgrim families, and tonight in a workshop called "LGBTQ Spirituality and Catholic Identity: Future Directions and Needs."

On Twitter: @ReginaMedina

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