Renee Gannon
Prince Gomolvilas
Arlan Hamilton
Sanford Marcus
Susan Norfleet
Homophobia is a beautiful thing; it builds bridges between people who might otherwise not talk to one another. In fact, not since various Christian denominations rallied together to defend the white man's right to keep black slaves have we seen such unity and cooperation between Christians groups.
A recently formed coalition of national and California Christian organizations is mustering its forces to fight a discrimination lawsuit filed by the parents of two lesbians who were expelled from a Lutheran High School for coming out. The parents of the lesbians are claiming that the school should not be exempt from California anti-discrimination laws. The school and the Christian groups are arguing that Christian schools should have the right to expel students who violate standards of Christian behavior. Like "hate thy neignbor?"
The Christian Legal Society, the Alliance Defense Fund and the Association of Faith-Based Organizations filed a petition in early September asking the judge to add them to the lawsuit in support of the Lutheran school.
Attorneys arguing for the school and the various associations claim that Christian schools should not be subject to California law when it violates their beliefs.
Now since the behavior that is being deemed a violation of Christian behavior is actually questioned in the Hebrew Bible, one must also assume that Christian schools are expelling students who eat shrimp, mix wool and cotton fabrics, engage in work or sports on the Sabbath, disobey their parents, lie or engage in idolatry.
It would be easy to wax snarky on this topic, but the implications of this lawsuit, should the Christian coalition triumph in court, would be that Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist and any other religion-based school--all schools that receive tax benefits and federal and state subsidies funded by taxpayer dollars-- would be able to expel gay boys and girls for no other reason than being out.
I'm going to repeat a mantra that I use in one form or another, over and over again: while those of us who live in urban bubbles imagine that life for gay men and women has vastly improved, thousands of queer kids across the nation would say "not so much."
It boggles the mind to consider that barely a day passes without some politician, pundit or media outlet warning us of the growing threat of Islamic fundamentalism to democracy when, in fact, the only real threat to the future of this nation is from within and it is entirely "Christian" in nature. As Washington funds more and more "faith-based" initiatives, as religious schools are allowed to operate more and more outside of constitutional law and as school systems throughout the nation churn out increasing numbers of children who turn their backs on science and fact in favor of superstition and childish mythologies, we find ourselves with a voter base that is increasingly opposed to democracy, freedom and the most basic principles set forth in the United States Constitution. This is a subject I will be examining in much more depth over the new couple of weeks. You can bet your Bibles on it.
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