bigotry in ontario
Ontario California, that is. Commenter Liam J brought this story to my attention over the weekend.
Checking out reaction in the blogosphere, I saw many people pointing out that a private school is allowed to set whatever standards they like, and it's within their rights to admit or expel a student for any reason. Two problems there. One, most private schools receive some government funding. If gay families were equal under the law, and the school accepts one dime of federal or state funding, this discrimination would be illegal. And two, it may be technically legal, but it's still unethical and immoral.
Christian School indeed. Do you think the school expels students because their parents engage in other practices inconsistent with a positive Christian lifestyle, such as supporting the death penalty or useless foreign wars?
ONTARIO, Calif. - A 14-year-old student was expelled from a Christian school because her parents are lesbians, the school's superintendent said in a letter.I love the bit about "cohabitating without marriage". Because of people like these school administrators, the girl's parents aren't allowed to get married!
Shay Clark was expelled from Ontario Christian School on Thursday.
"Your family does not meet the policies of admission," Superintendent Leonard Stob wrote to Tina Clark, the girl's biological mother.
Stob wrote that school policy requires that at least one parent may not engage in practices "immoral or inconsistent with a positive Christian life style, such as cohabitating without marriage or in a homosexual relationship," The Los Angeles Times reported in Friday's edition.
Stob could not be reached for comment by the newspaper. Shay and her parents said they won't fight the ruling.
School administrators learned of the parents' relationship this week after Shay was reprimanded for talking to the crowd during a football game, Tina Clark said.
Clark and her partner have been together 22 years and have two other daughters, ages 9 and 19.
Checking out reaction in the blogosphere, I saw many people pointing out that a private school is allowed to set whatever standards they like, and it's within their rights to admit or expel a student for any reason. Two problems there. One, most private schools receive some government funding. If gay families were equal under the law, and the school accepts one dime of federal or state funding, this discrimination would be illegal. And two, it may be technically legal, but it's still unethical and immoral.
Christian School indeed. Do you think the school expels students because their parents engage in other practices inconsistent with a positive Christian lifestyle, such as supporting the death penalty or useless foreign wars?
This is just crazy! Punishing a child because of her parents. Not to mention the obvious bigotry. I actually disagree with the comment "Private schools should be able to set their own admission standards". And I think it couldn't happen in Canada (Thanks to our charter). How can u tell a child you can't come to this school because we don't like your parents?
ReplyDeleteSad...
Peter
One, most private schools receive some government funding.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, there is currently a bill before Congress which would allow religious institutions to implement discriminatory hiring and still receive federal funding. This isn't that far off.
I actually disagree with the comment "Private schools should be able to set their own admission standards". And I think it couldn't happen in Canada (Thanks to our charter).
ReplyDeleteI disagree with it, too. Does the society have common standards or not? That's the question. I believe you're right, re Charter. Several Canadian readers have said that.
there is currently a bill before Congress which would allow religious institutions to implement discriminatory hiring and still receive federal funding.
The "Religious Freedom Restoration
Act". Don't you love those Orwellian names?
The "Religious Freedom Restoration
ReplyDeleteAct". Don't you love those Orwellian names?
Blogger Brad DeLong had a great line:
I'll stop calling the current administration 'Orwellian' when they stop using "1984" as a playbook.
Samantha Bee also had a great take on it on the Daily Show, when she interviewed one of Bush's top spinmeisters:
Bee: I'm going to say a word, and you tell me how you'd present it to the public. "Clear-cutting"
Bushite: "Healthy Forests"
Bee: "Arctic drilling"
Bushite: "Wise energy management"
Bee: "Indoctrination"
Bushite: "Education"
Bee: "Orwellian"
Bushite: ...
I'm still waiting for the real answer that explains why it friggin' matters what type of sexual behavior the parents engage in. Or anyone for that matter. Are homosexuals prejudiced against heterosexuals? No.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the straight laced guy with a wife and kids who likes to be peed on? Do we butt into his sexual life? Of course not. But if you are a homosexual, watch out, because half the world has all kinds of sterotypical judgements about who you are.
It is such a ridiculous issue. I'll never truly understand it.
You know, Mel, I feel the same way. I just don't get it.
ReplyDeletePeople throw around supposed biblical support for an anti-gay agenda, but why just homosexuality? The bible mentions hundreds of things that run counter to modern life, that no one pays any attention to.
But sexual orientation - which causes no one any harm - is an obsession.
I don't get it either.
But sexual orientation - which causes no one any harm - is an obsession.
ReplyDeleteSex in general is an obsession, but the big problem is that the is a perception that it does do harm: namely that the existence and acceptance of gays could turn Junior gay, and we can't have that.
There seems to be a huge insecurity about anything that might undermine one's reputation as a manly man. Having a gay son is a major one -- witness the recent case of a 3-year-old beaten to death in an attempt to keep him from turning gay, or the case of Zach and Love In Action / Refuge.
Even scarrier is the prospect of being attractive to a gay man, which seemed to have been the motive behind the Matthew Shepard murder.
Scariest of all, of course, is the prospect of being attracted to other men, which motivates people to hand themselves over to groups like LIA/R.
Of course, this obsession with being manly isn't only associated with attitudes towards homosexuality. It also manifests in everything from obessions with bigger, more obnoxious cars through to violence against women.
Obviously, all this homophobia is insane. I just want to add my own comment regarding Orwellian behaviour. (I'm practicing my Canadian spelling!)
ReplyDeleteI use a Mac computer at work; it's the laptop I was provided by the school district and allows me to access certain proprietary programs. Of course, a Mac can't compare to a PC in my book, but that's not my point. My Mac won't let me access wmtc! How ridiculous is that? I often want to log on at work, for my general wellbeing, intellectual stimulation, entertainment, and, most important, procrastination. I get the title portion but no text. Is wmtc too controversial for Big Brother? I am also quite sure that it blocks potentially forbidden language. For instance, I would not be able to google the name of our county, Middlesex. Just ridiculous.
My Mac won't let me access wmtc!
ReplyDeleteDo you know what filtering software they're using? Just curious.
Thank goodness the employees of the Middlesex County school district (whatever it's called) are safe from infection by wmtc! ;-)
Of course, this obsession with being manly isn't only associated with attitudes towards homosexuality. It also manifests in everything from obessions with bigger, more obnoxious cars through to violence against women.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Homophobia is a big factor in things like fraternity gang rapes - the fear of being thought to be less than manly and not hetero in front of peers. (Among other attitudes leading to those horrors.)
I don't know if all homophobia stems from this, though - because so many women are homophobic, too.
I have no idea what filtering software they're using in the school district. I suppose I could find out someday and let you know.
ReplyDeleteI've never understood the fixation with who puts what where. It's quite perverted, reallly. If people want to share/watch/whatever, that's cool, but otherwise, obsessing over the genitalia of complete strangers is icky. Because that's what it's all about for the homophobes, right? Fred Phelps has a total penis fixation.
ReplyDeleteIt's becoming so easy these days, sadly enough, to define the word Christian as one conotating hatred, bigotry and its own special form of immorality.
ReplyDeleteThe only time I have ever received threats of physical violence against me was from a self-proclaimed Christian who objected to me not only not being straight, but upsetting his whole us/them dichotomy by being bi -- and on top of that, upsetting his whole idea of how gays behave by not being "the woman" or "the man". He promised to track me down and take a baseball bat to me.
Challenging bigots' preconceptions is a good way to get hurt. But it's necessary.
Fred Phelps has a total penis fixation.
That images is almost enough to put me off men altogether. Bleah.
Sorry, James...
ReplyDeleteReactionary conservatives tend to adopt whatever prejudices the males of the species have.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but I'm not talking about extremes like this. I mean ordinary hetero women, who have minds of their own, who are horrified by and frightened of lesbians. And of course, in whatever bisexual tendencies they find in themselves.
But whatever. We are all socialized in odd ways around sexuality, and there's a lot of evidence that this is changing generationally.
The Fred Phelps of the world notwithstanding.
I suppose I could find out someday and let you know.
ReplyDeleteNo need, I was just curious...
I think it's time in the US to declare a movement to break away from the Religious Right once and for all. America's own anti-apartheid movement, to break away from Amerikka.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought.
I think it's time in the US to declare a movement to break away from the Religious Right once and for all.
ReplyDeleteAlas, just the opposite is happening. They are taking over the country, and the "opposition" is trying their best to look like the rulers.
I mean ordinary hetero women, who have minds of their own, who are horrified by and frightened of lesbians.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've met any of those. Though I have been called a dyke by buys in a mini-van.
I think it's time in the US to declare a movement to break away from the Religious Right once and for all.
There's currently a movement in the US to have "true" Christians all move to South Carolina and declare it a Baptist theocracy.
There's currently a movement in the US to have "true" Christians all move to South Carolina and declare it a Baptist theocracy.
ReplyDeleteI think you flatter it by calling it a movement. It's more of a wishful idea, like Vermont seceding and joining Canada.
I think you flatter it by calling it a movement. It's more of a wishful idea, like Vermont seceding and joining Canada.
ReplyDeleteThey did get interviewed on the Daily Show... :)
Geez, that's really discouraging to hear. I try to understand but can never quite 'get it'. Why are the homophobes so passionately interested in the sexual inclinations of total strangers.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at sheer numbers, the propportion of sick unhealthy practices, idealogies, etc in the heterosexual popluation has got to be way higher than in the homosexual population. The assumption seems to be that just because a couple is homosexual they providing an unfit environment for kids. I just don't get it. Love is love, values, ethics, etc are not dependent on sexual orientation.
What a waste of energy.
The assumption seems to be that just because a couple is homosexual they providing an unfit environment for kids.
ReplyDelete"Gays raising children is wrong because the children will be teased and ostrasized in school for being rasied by gays, since it's wrong."
Sure, it's circular -- but I've heard it presented as an argument.