Court Ruling: Schools Can Expel Lesbian Students
- Posted by: Patrick James
- on January 29, 2009 at 2:53 pm
This seems totally absurd to me, but clearly I don’t understand the way things work in religious schools. From the LA Times:
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.
Do you agree with the court? Since the school is private—and religious—does it have the right to expel the girls for their “bond of intimacy,” or what’s going on with that?
(Image via Flickr user bobster1985.)
DISCUSSION: 14 Comments
What’s nuts about this to me is that they were expelled for “lesbian-like behavior”. Rules at schools should be in place to protect children and their safety while at school. If hugging or holding hands were harmful in some way, or generally outlawed at a particular school, that would be weird but to dismiss kids outright for what you assume to be their sexual orientation seems not just narrow but INCREDIBLY harmful to both those students and everyone around them. They are KIDS. Who deserve to be educated. They haven’t done anything violent…it’s just really disturbing to me.
Parochial schools are basically exempt from the discrimination laws that apply to public institutions. I guess if you say outright from the beginning that you’re going to discriminate based on religious, and therefore moral, beliefs then its a-okey! A slightly similar case Mutual respect of private rights is all I ask for.
My mother worked in a Catholic private high school for many years. We both agree that discrimination against anyone for any reason other than their actions, words, or behaviour is very wrong.Just as I feel it is wrong for a religion to have any influence over people who aren’t it’s practitioners (Kansas School Board, etc.), I feel it is wrong for a government to have any say in what a religion holds as it’s values (to a point). This can become a sticky problem.If the school collects one red cent from any public grants or funds (which many private schools do), those funds should be cut off immediately, and the school should fall under the same anti-discrimination rules as everyone else. The same should be said if the school operates as a for-profit business. If not, I assume the school is a non-profit wing of the church collecting tuition from the girls families, who should be refunded the tuition collected in full.I guess that a loud and public boycott of the school by families who agree that discrimination is wrong would probably be more effective than governmental regulation. It keeps the government playing it’s appropriate role, and leaves private citizens to play theirs. Hopefully, it would make fundraising among it’s donors for the school that much harder. Maybe, just maybe it would also teach the Lutheran church that we no longer live in an era of public hangings, slavery, or ignorance, and it could be done without dirtying the hands of legal authority.I am looking forward to the day we can move past this and get on with making the world better for all of us…
I believe that the school has every right do what it did (if it is not receiving any type of government funding) as long as the “rules or standards” are set in place before the incident. I attended a small church affiliated school where “intimate” behavior was put in the same category as drug and alcohol use, it did not matter if you were boy and girl, girl and girl, or boy and boy if they found out that there was any “intimate” behavior you were expelled. This is United States right? So that does mean that even those “fanatical religious people” have a right to try to create a gay free environment for their children… or was I mistaken and this country is only free to those who have outside of the box outlooks on life?
They’re expelling girls for “a bond of intimacy”? Have any of them ever been a teenage girl? They’ll have to expel nearly all of them.
I don’t believe that anyone has the right to discriminate against another person on the grounds of their sexuality, regardless of whether they’re a religious, private school or not.Rights are grounded in morals, discrimination and homophobia are immoral, and so this school has no right to do such a thing.
In California, private unfunded schools have the right to discriminate on anything they like, other than disability.That said — just because something is legal does not make it ethical, and even if one accepts the school’s right to discriminate on these grounds, it does not make their judgment sound in this case.Student complains –> School looks at their MySpace pages –> students expelled.Sorry — even if you accept everything, the school thinks that everything on a teenager’s MySpace page is an accurate depiction of their lifestyle, and that teenage confusion about sexuality is something to be punished. Neither of these are indicative of intelligence or sound judgment.The school should be ashamed of itself.Steve.
If they are receiveing ANY form of governmental funds, it should be illegal to expel them. But the government should then investigate further, because I’m sure they aren’t the only ones who may have it in their “rulebook” that certain very discriminatory acts are taking place.I do agree with someone here regarding their legal right to form the type of community they want. They should be allowed to form a “world” without lesbians or any categorization that they don’t like…it’s a PRIVATE organization. The other parents should look into what the school is doing though…it is NOT fostering a positive outlook on differences and tolerance. I don’t want my children in such a small box…it’s not healthy.
Private schools that don’t receive funding do have the right to set their own standards. But I want to know if there was any action on the girls part? And were there clear rules that they broke? If so, ok, that’s the school’s right to do so. Or was all of this based on asssumptions? If that’s the case, I hope they win and bring the school down.
It is a religious school, and homosexuality is a sin, and therefore against the rules. This is not a matter of law or civil rights, this is a matter of a religious institution upholding it’s beliefs. So, yes, the school has every right. If not, what’s the point of being a religious school?
OKAY.I am a homosexual and a proud one on most occasions.Despite any negative comments left before me and despite whether I agree with points made from them, I will say what I think.The courts decision is true. I think that a PRIVATE school is allowed to discriminate against those they do not want in their institution. J
Is there any better argument against school vouchers?
The Prohibition of Discrimination Act for California strikes me because unlike other california education acts it limits its authority to only educational institutions that receive federal or state subsidies. Whereas other education acts such as the Safe Place to Learn Act pertains to ‘all local education agencies’ a much more broad authority than that of Prohibition of Discrimination Act. If the defense were to argue that expelling the young girls violated the Safe Place to Learn Act which also prohibits discrimination and harassment of pupils- would the same ruling apply?
This is a private religious institution. They have strict rules and guidelines that are written and given to everyone upon enrollment. If you don’t agree with those rules…THEN DON’T ENROLL IN THAT SCHOOL! There are plenty of other schools to attend! This is a part of their religious beliefs that homosexuality is wrong. And whether or not you agree with them on that is not the issue. They have stated that in the rules and again…if you don’t like it…go somewhere else!