Around 600 pupils protested Thursday against their school’s decision not to hire a gay teacher at the Gymnasium Mariengarden, a private high school in the town of Borken in western Germany. The students assembled to form a rainbow out of colored balloons alongside a banner that read, “Mariengarden is colorful.” The man had completed his teacher training at the Catholic school and subsequently been offered a job. However, when he told the school principal that he intended to marry his male partner, his offer of employment was withdrawn. Church officials responsible for the administration of the school said Wednesday that, “The plan to marry contravenes the church’s position on matrimony and family.”