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Religious intolerance strikes again

Charlie in Dayton

Rabid radioactive stargazer and JREF kid
C
Joined
Aug 3, 2001
Messages
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A young man has been expelled from a church-based college in Kentucky.
Apparently, there was no official notice that homosexuality was a violation of college policy (based on church teachings) for the man's first two years of attendance at the school. The circumstances of his dismissal seem to be especially draconian - he was presented a notice that he was to be off the campus by the end of the day.
Legal action is under way, according to the article cited above in the link.

I have my own ideas on this (as you may have guessed from my description of the situation), but I'd like to hear yours.

Comments?
 
Devout gay baptists. Yikes.

And I agree, it is religious intolerance. The college may or may not be legally within its rights to expel gay students. Or sexually active students. It still smacks of Bronze Age bigotry. And of fundie hypocrisy, since they only expelled him when he came out online and probably embarrassed the school. Can you say "Don't ask, don't tell"?

And, really. A theater arts major? Is anyone surprised? ;)

Mind you, it warms my cold, cynical heart a little to see how much support the guy's getting, even in that Baptist college.
 
I defend their right to be stupid. I defend his right to be gay. To this young man I would say that it was silly of him to expect acceptance and tolerence at this school and that he should find a new school.

I still defend the school no matter how batsh*t loony they are.
 
Defend their right to be stupid by all means Jim, but are you willing to defend their right to do stupid things which will have a significant and measurable (negative) impact on someone else's life?

Here in the UK there's a lot of people trying to stem the tide of religious schools. However, the government's aims seem to be to promote religious schools in the interests of "parental choice". Seeing how far things go in the US - and how this expulsion can be framed by many as a legalistic debate as to what contract this poor sod signed up to - reminds me why I care about this issue as much as I do.

Matt

(this is my first post - hola)
 
He was raised a Baptist, and he turned out to be gay. The guy's still quite young. The stupidity of this decision may not have been obvious to him when filled out his college applications. (This process generally begins at age 15 or 16 and is often completed well before the eighteenth birthday.)

Despite all that, if the school instituted an explicit "no-gay" policy in his third year, and he consented to it, then his choices are to be leave the school, pretend to be straight, or make statement and pay the price.

What I find most interesting is the way that these students are all "anti-gay" but make an exception for the one gay guy they happen to know.
 
It's not like this guy was organizing gay pride parades or trying to start a homosexual support group on campus. All he did was indicate that he was gay in his MySpace.com profile.
 
Christine, you're still making a legalistic argument - that it's fine for the college to bar gay people in the first place! I know I would never knowingly go to a university that had an anti-gay policy. But this guy's young and (for all we know) feels quite strongly about his faith, and thought that there was a way through that he could take in all good conscience.

In any event, the college was only uncontroversially anti-gay in his third year! If my university had instituted an anti-gay policy in my third year you can bet I wouldn't treat (i) leave, or (ii) keep quiet as options. (Incidentally, what does it mean to "consent" to a policy that your university implements after you start?)

That universities should be positively supportive of LGB students is taken for granted here. Perhaps it shouldn't be. Scary.
 
matt-r...

Quote...

"Here in the UK there's a lot of people trying to stem the tide of religious schools. However, the government's aims seem to be to promote religious schools in the interests of "parental choice". .."


You forgot to include that most teachers unions have voted to stop any kind of funding for 'faith schools'..

DB
 
Hmmmmm.

I have no sympathy for stupidity. What the school did was stupid.

Sorry, I can't say I agree with you, jim.


*shrug*

It's easier to hate 'those people' than good old Bob down the road who helped you jumpstart your car on that winter's morning. Or old Agnes who loaned you that twenty when you REALLY needed it.
 
De Bunk: True enough, and very heartening it was too, especially the speeches given by members of the clergy. But we both know that it will be duly ignored. I don't see any of the mainstream parties taking this issue seriously; the movement against faith schools, such as it is, is definitely grassroots.
 
matt-r...

In my sons school they teach 'Humanities'...The name "Religious Education" has been dropped. This so called 'Humanities" is 1/2 hr per week, according to him and the teachers couldnt care less. Most of the children sit there reading or catching up on homework that actually counts.

I cant remember the last time i met a child who claimed they attend church or even cared about religion.

Every week in the UK another church closes thru lack of use...

Church attendances are falling weekly...

The church's grip on the UK is slipping away...

I'm afraid the religion most kids know about the most today is Islam...'cos its being thrust down their throats everyday..

Christianity in UK today...Ain't worth a toss...

The next generation, average child, in the UK, couldnt care less about it...

DB
 
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I defend the schools right to be bigoted and not admit gay students. I find the practice stupid and nauseating, but I defend it just the same.

On the other hand, there is a good case for breach of contract here. They should pay him back his lost tuition, lost time, and pay for at least one semester elsewhere.
 
Palimpsest said:
And, really. A theater arts major? Is anyone surprised? ;)
Click to expand...

I'm really surprised that a Baptist college would give out degrees for such a French major. I bet all the theater teachers are secretly atheist, evolution believing, French-Catholic communists.
 
KingMerv00 said:
I defend the schools right to be bigoted and not admit gay students. I find the practice stupid and nauseating, but I defend it just the same.

On the other hand, there is a good case for breach of contract here. They should pay him back his lost tuition, lost time, and pay for at least one semester elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity would you defend a school for not admitting a particular ethnic group?

I say the school should not be allowed to do this.
 
Darat said:
Out of curiosity would you defend a school for not admitting a particular ethnic group?
Click to expand...

Yes. I would still be nauseated, but I'd do it. It is a private organization and unless it is receiving public money, the government has no right to force people into relationships they don't want.

The judicial branch should not have the power to force my morality on others or for others to force it upon me. How would you like it if a judge forced you to admit Pat Robertson into your house?

I say the school should not be allowed to do this.
Click to expand...

What theory of law allows you to enforce such an idea?
 
i recently saw an episode of Boston Legal that had a private school not allow a little girl into their school because she was physically incapable of smiling, so the character, Alan Shore, played brilliantly by James Spader showed the public through the media how predjudice the school was.

What I'm saying is - the media should portray the school for what they are so the public can see what kind of intolerant scum live among them!
 
This is a private post-secondary school in the US. I gather it's different in the UK. The fact is that young people chose this University so that they wouldn't have to go to school with gays, Catholics, whatever. Schools like this do receive some public money, but it's quite restricted. Mostly it is in the form of tuition grants to students.

Up until high school, children in the US have to go to accredited schools. At university, anything goes. A university does not have to admit ethnic minorities, and some do not. Of course such a school could not join a sports league, or be accredited by any of the major accreditation associations, or get tuition grants, and would be shunned by almost all legitimate scholarly organizations.

Private organizations in the US may exclude anyone they like, for any reason. All white organizations have dwindled because the public now realizes how stupid they are, not because there are laws against them.
 
Darat...

I agree...

This person has a right to education, no matter what his sexuality is...It matters not...(But i think his choice of college could have been more thought out tho'...........Apparently their sports facilities are pretty crap :D )

DB
 
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