People who twist their "freedom of religion" to freedom of hate.

URL:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...5092300402.html

Text:
School Expels Girl for Having Gay Parents

The Associated Press
Friday, September 23, 2005; 7:05 AM

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.

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.

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

>> "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."<<

wow.. I wonder what she said to the crowd during the football game? Wonder what the school did to "learn of" the relationship.
Sounds like she's being punished for something else? I tried to find more, but only found that she was a cheerleader there.

Certainly I would allow that a private Christian school has the right to set their own standards of behavior for the students & their families...
still, I feel a slow burn coming on whenever I find narrow-mindedness & bigotry in the name of religion...
thus the last line in my current signature...

__________________
Plug me into somethin'

If the theory does not conform to the facts, then the facts must be discarded.

No good deed ever goes unpunished

Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level, & beat you with experience.

I don't know the church, school or denomination, but I'm not sure that the school would think of their rules as being rules of "hate." That's a pretty strong term.

I suspect, other schools sponsored by other faiths might also have rules based on their church's teachings and beliefs ... can't even imagine why they wouldn't, but, more than that, I guess I've always wondered why people go to places where they knew they are in conflict with the rules (especially private institutions) and even more so why they would subject their children to such a situation.

I always wondered why adults send kids into stores to buy liquor or whatever ... simply to test the rules. Seems like something of a disregard for the child's well being in order to promote the adult's point of view. I remember a case in Illinois (a lot of years ago) where a mother sent her child into an adult book store to try and get the clerk to sell to an under age minor. The adult book store owner had charges filed against the woman for "contributing to the deliquency of a minor" for putting her child up to it. Funny, both cases were dropped.

Oh ... by-the-way ... I don't know that the child was enrolled to "test" the powers that be. Could be they just thought the school provided a good education. But, they must have been aware of the rules, and, the fact they didn't fight the ruling says they weren't as upset as all that. In any case, I hope the child is able to get enrolled in a new school where her family's values are not the issue.

Indeed so!

As we have seen very recently, narrow-mindedness, bigotry and insensitivity can happen anywhere. It is something we should always be on our guard against.

__________________
Eudaimonia

I worked for a church school for a long time, until we got a new pastor there and he made his own views those of the church. They were not mine and not ones I would abide by. I left. I don't want to be associated withthings that do not reflect my own views as well.

__________________

The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas

I agree that hate is a very harsh word to use here. A private school has every right to set their own rules as they see fit. A Christian school has every right to follow their interpetation of the Bible. I certainly wouldn't put my child into a private school that went against my own personal beliefs nor would I expect that school to change their rules to suit me.

__________________
Just when the caterpiller thought the world was over, it became a butterfly!

Owning Pita, by my JassWolf!!
My Story~ Friday Night Spanking

I understand the point about "the rules being the rules." However, it also strikes me that the poor child is really the one suffering here...she's the one that will loose all of her friends and have to start over. And that makes me sad -- it's not her "fault" her parents broke the rules. And punishing the kid seems like a very un-Christian thing to me.

One other sentence in this article strikes me as amusing... "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," -- ONE PARENT?!? Isn't that a bit selective in and of itself?

__________________
Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney

LOL I thought that too. Leaves it open for a dad to watch his Mrs. with another Mrs.

__________________

The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas

So....if one of the lesbian moms just laid there, and the other one did all the work/initiating.........can the poor kid go back to school????

__________________
Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney

Doesn't surprise me a bit...nor does it piss me off. I'd only be pissed if it was a surprise!

Religion has long been the foundation for confrontation. And...in all fairness...these people chose to send their child to a place where they had to know wouldn't agree with their lifestyle choice. Maybe they didn't know all the by-laws...but you can't tell me that they have been hermits and didn't know that "Jesus loves the little children...all the children of the world...red and yellow, black and white...they are precious in his sight...unless they're gay or know someone who is"! Geezzzzzzzz...even I knew that from my Sunday school days!

P.S. There are other lifestyle/life choices that would fit into that song too...of that I am sure!

__________________
Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they are open.

~Thomas Dewar~

Hell will be filled with all the well intended bible thumpin' christians who try to exclude people for one reason or another.

WOW! This is happening about 50 free way miles away from me.A little to close to home.The last time I looked,we still live in a "blue state". But as everyone should know, this a'int religion.It is a result of religion being hijacked by the neo-cons.I have sent money to Americans United for the Seperation of Church and State to battle the excesses of run amouk fundamentalism,only to find out that these gullable types are being told that people who support such organizations are "persecuting" christians.Go figure. The two lesbian parents should realize that their son would receive a better education else where.

__________________
Sex is one of nine reasons for reincarnation.The other eight are unimportant...Henry Miller

I agree with lakritze. This has nothing whatever to do with religion. This is an example of a private organization enforcing its First Amendment free speech and freedom of association rights.

It is so sad that it was the 14 year old girl who had to pay the price.

__________________
Eudaimonia

There are plenty of churches that do not have anti homosexuality doctrines. Hopefully if the parents truly wanted their child to have a religious education, they will be able to find a church with a more open minded interpretation of the "good" book.

I wonder if the same school would kick out any children whose parents committed other acts that they considered unChristian and I wonder if parents are given a handbook of what those activities could be?

As a church school director, we had several same sex parented families, for us it was a non-issue despite the denomination still being undecided as to how their pastors should proceed. To exclude the children based on the actions, choices, lifestyles of their parents was just not a reasonable option to me, regardless of what sort of things that entailed.

__________________

The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas