Thursday, January 29, 2009

A sad story

School can expel lesbian students, court rules

An appeals panel finds California Lutheran High School in
Riverside County is not a business and therefore doesn't
have to comply with a state law barring discrimination
based on sexual orientation.
By Maura Dolan
January 28, 2009
Reporting from San Francisco -- After a Lutheran school
expelled two 16-year-old girls for having "a bond of
intimacy"that was "characteristic of a lesbian relationship,"
the girls sued, contending the school had violated a state
anti-discrimination law.

In response to that suit, an appeals court decided this
week that the private religious school was not a business
and therefore did not have to comply with a state law that
prohibits businesses from discriminating. A lawyer for
the girls said Tuesday that he would ask the California
Supreme Court to overturn the unanimous ruling by
a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal.

The appeals court called its decision "narrow," but
lawyers on both sides of the case said it would protect
private religious schools across California from such discrimination suits.


Kirk D. Hanson, who represented the girls, said the
"very troubling" ruling would permit private schools to
discriminate against anyone, as long as the schools
used their religious beliefs as justification.


Dr.Awsom says that people who send their children
to religious schools can surely expect them either to become bigoted, narrow, and intolerant like their
teachers, or castigated for being slightly different
from the biblical role-models preferred by such schools.


We are talking about a 'loving relationship' here, not something particularly dangerous I would have
thought. Fundamentalists of all persuasions will be
cheering no doubt, and even I am hopeful that it will provide a valuable lesson to the girls.

1 comment:

  1. Hear hear!! It is an insane world, full of fundamentalists. Thxs Bob, I agree with you.

    Regards

    Gert-Jan

    ReplyDelete

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