Brittany Walker
1/30/09
12:04 AM
A state appeals court says that a private religious high school can expel students who they believe are lesbians, because the school is not covered by the California civil rights laws. This law was based on a 1998 state Supreme Court ruling that allowed the boy scouts to exclude gays and atheists. A lawyer for the two girls stated that yes you are a religious school and you can discriminate on any basis you want. However he also pointed out that children must attend school, either public or private, and that schools serve different purposes than a voluntary organization like boy scouts. John McKay the lawyer for California Lutheran says that any state law that required the school to admit gay's and lesbians, would violate the schools freedom of expression and religion. The girls were juniors at the time when the principal called them into his office to question them about their sexual orientation and if they loved each other. The girls were suspended because of their answer and expelled a month later by the school director.
I agree with both sides of the story. If the state law required school's to admit gay's and lesbians then this would definitely violate the schools freedom of expression and religion. However every student deserves to attend the school of their choices no matter what their sexual orientation is. I think that the student definitely should have the right to express his or her sexual orientation. However, I believe if their preference violates the schools freedom of expression then the student should go to a school where they can express their orientation in a way that does not offend or violate the school's code of conduct.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/28/BAB615IA5R.DTL&type=education
6 comments:
I have to say that this is really sad. It is ridiculous to expel people because of their sexual orientation. This is a free country and people should be able to express themselves in whatever way that they choose to. The school should focus on teaching the children and let their personal life remain to them. If the girls were causing a big scene or anything like that then i could see them getting expelled, but not for simply being lesbians.
So I think I agree with you on the fact of understanding both sides of the story. They are a public school and they can do whatever they want.. I think that is pretty much the basis of a private school but those girls do deserve the right to be educated. It is sad that they cannot just accept these students for who they are and do the job that they are supposed to be doing!
One of the key words in this story for me was "believe" to be a lesbian. This is segregation at its worst and I don't know how school leaders can look at children and expel them from school based on a belief. I don't know if this is something that actually happened, but if the student is not discussing her sexuality in the school, then how is it determined that she is in fact a lesbian? I know that this is a private group, but the segregation of children is completely unacceptable.
While I understand that as a private school they have the right to determine who attends their school, I find it to be ridiculous that they would expel students based on their sexuality. It is appalling that as a country we do not recognize and try to eliminate discrimation based on sexuality.
I agree that this is a really sad example of religion creating rifts in society. It is going to be really hard for those girls to get over being rejected by their community. But, on the bright side, I think these girls are better off now. If I were them, I would be glad to no longer be part of an institution that discriminates against entire communities of people just because of their sexual orientation.
This is ridiculous and there was no reason those girls should be expelled. I always thought that religions were open to everyone well at least that's what I always heard and to read this changes my opinion drastically. There is no reason that the girls should be treated any differently than any other students especially when the story said "believed" to be lesbians. The court ruling on this is definitely one I would have not expected to read.
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