Anti-Gay Discrimination "Part of Lord's Plan"

American businesses cannot discriminate against employees on the basis of sexual orientation, but what about schools? Evidently, religious schools are perfectly free to discriminate in any manner they see fit. A Riverside (CA) Superior Court Judge recently dismissed a discrimination lawsuit alleging that Wildomar Christian school was violating state law by expelling two students suspected of being (gasp!) lesbians. The basis for this decision was that "...there was no legal basis for the claim that the school falls under the California civil-rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in business settings."

The school's "religious code of conduct," in question here, "states that students can be removed from school for immoral or scandalous behavior that contradicts Christian values." Good thing anti-gay bigotry is consistent with Christian values! Fred Phelps would be proud.

According to the school's attorney, John McKay, the decision was fair because the school is a private religious institution which accepts no money from the government. Hmmm...does that mean that they pay takes unlike other religious institutions?

"You can't infringe upon the basic rights of a religious group and their right of association by forcing them to accept people who don't believe in their values," McKay said.

I see. So these Christians must be free to hate whoever they want. If we expect them to treat their fellow humans with dignity and respect, we are violating their "basic rights." Anybody else have difficulty stomaching this sort of rationale?

How could the school teach that homosexuality is a sin, McKay asked, and at the same time allow these two girls to be students there?

Well, I suppose he's got a point there. Since we as a society have agreed to refrain from criticizing religion, no matter how deserved such criticism may be, it looks like our hands are tied. Since the school can't practice tolerance while preaching hatred, and since we refuse to call them on their preaching of hatred, we have no choice but to exempt them from anti-discrimination law!

If you are not as pissed off as I am right now, I'll leave you with a quote from the school's principal, Steve Rosenbaum,

"We are confident that things will continue to proceed according to the Lord's plan."

Tags: discrimination, law, legal, school, education, California, anti-gay, Christian, bigotry, religion, sexual orientation, lesbian, Wildomar Christian, Christian values