A California appeals court has upheld the right of a private Lutheran high school to expel students based on sexual orientation. Creepy as that sounds, I don't think the court
is actually wrong. As long as they don't take one single of penny of my
taxpayer money, religious organizations have the freedom to be petty,
mean, and discriminatory in their own special ways all day long.
(For clarification: This is a school run by the "Wisconsin Synod" Lutherans, not Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is more tolerant.)
The
school itself, on the other hand, which ended up in court because it did in fact expel two
female students for having a relationship with each other, is wrong in so
many ways.
I really can't say the main point much better than Shaun Martin over at California Appellate Report, who writes: "I know that if I taught at a private high school . . . I'd definitely spend my valuable time looking up the
myspace pages of all the female students in my class to see if any of
them said that they were bisexual or in love with another female
student. Yes, and if I were the principal of said high school,
and a teacher discovered that two female students had in fact so
identified themselves, I'd definitely call them into my office and
interrogate them about whether they had a consensual lesbian
relationship. . ."
Not to mention the crazy power this gives mean, rumor-mongering teens.
And would the snooping stop with teenagers? If religious schools think they have license to control not only what happens in school, but the private lives of their communities, are parents of young kids in religious elementary schools going to find their kids expelled when it becomes clear that they aren't using birth control (not enough kids! need more tuition!) or don't attend church enough? I know in some dioceses unmarried Catholic school teachers have actually had problems with priestly peeping Toms trying to see whether they are having overnight guests.
According to the AP, the school's lawyer says the school's goal is to "educate based on Christian principles." I realize the world is full of examples to the contrary, but it's always been my understanding that the core Christian principles are supposed to be forgiveness and redemption. Oh well.
I guess the girls who were expelled will have a good chance to practice forgiveness, but I'm guessing there are more and more parents out there who are going to just opt out of schools like this in the first place.
Photo by Made Underground.
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