In a move that even gay rights advocate Andrew Sullivan finds unacceptable, for the last several months the gay rights gestapo has been targeting Gordon College, a small evangelical Christian college in Massachusetts. They have not only caused the college to lose contracts and student-teaching placements but have now, in the last couple months, succeeded in forcing the college to choose between losing its accreditation or allowing openly same-sex-married gays to attend the college. Impossible in America? Nope, not anymore. Here's what gay rights advocate Andrew Sullivan says about this:
Do any liberals here agree with Sullivan? Is not the attack on Gordon College taking "gay rights" way, way too far?
What prompted this patently un-American, bigoted, and unconstitutional development? The trouble started in July of last year Gordon College president Michael Lindsay, along with many other Christian leaders, signed a letter to President Obama asking for a religious exemption to a then-pending executive order banning "discrimination" based on "sexual orientation" in companies with federal contracts or that receive federal funds, an exemption that even Elizabeth Warren supported.
David French writing on this issue in National Review:
Anyway, if this latest outrage by the gay rights gestapo succeeds, then every private religious college in the country could be forced to allow openly same-sex-married gays to attend--and presumably to live in the dorms as husband and husband and wife and wife. They could also be forced to hire gay faculty members against their will.
The Persecution of Gordon College
Gay Rights vs. Religious Liberty Again The American Conservative
Do I agree with them? Not at all. Did I agree with the Boy Scouts with their previous ban on gay kids? No. But one principle of liberalism is that you can profoundly disagree with someone while accepting their right to do as they see fit according to their conscience. Yes, marriage is barred by the college for gay kids, while heterosexual marriage (and thereby sex) is allowed. That is, in a very limited way, a double standard of sorts – if with respect to college kids, an uncommon one. But is my reader really arguing that an orthodox Christian college should therefore have to repudiate its own religious doctrines or not get accreditation? That simply shreds any concept of religious liberty. ( In Defense Of Gordon College Ctd The Dish )
Do any liberals here agree with Sullivan? Is not the attack on Gordon College taking "gay rights" way, way too far?
What prompted this patently un-American, bigoted, and unconstitutional development? The trouble started in July of last year Gordon College president Michael Lindsay, along with many other Christian leaders, signed a letter to President Obama asking for a religious exemption to a then-pending executive order banning "discrimination" based on "sexual orientation" in companies with federal contracts or that receive federal funds, an exemption that even Elizabeth Warren supported.
David French writing on this issue in National Review:
Unable to punish President Lindsay personally, activists targeted Gordon, discovering that — lo and behold — it had a policy (like virtually every orthodox Christian school and church in the United States) that required students and employees to limit sexual activity to marriage, defining marriage within the Judeo-Christian tradition, as the union of one man and one woman. Never mind that the policy allows any person of any sexual orientation to attend Gordon, teach at Gordon, or serve in its administration. The fact that its Life and Conduct Policy prohibits “sexual relations outside marriage” and “homosexual practice” (explained as “sexual intercourse”) was enough to take action, to declare it bigoted and not fit for inclusion in society.
The response was swift.
In an act of pure moral grandstanding, in July — just eight days after President Lindsay signed the letter to President Obama — the city of Salem suspended a long-term contract with Gordon that had allowed the college to use the city-owned Old Town Hall — a spiteful act, but one of little consequence to the college.
But then the spite became harmful. In late August, the Lynn School Committee — a nearby school district — ended an eleven-year relationship with the school and refused to accept Gordon College students as student-teachers in its system. This action — in addition to being destructive (teaching programs can’t function without student-teacher placements) — is grotesquely unconstitutional, violating students’ rights of free association, free speech, and religious liberty by punishing them for merely attending Gordon College, even without evidence the students themselves have engaged in any “discriminatory” acts or even agree with Gordon’s policy (there are dissenters who attend the school).
Then, in September, Gordon’s accreditor, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, announced that it had met to consider whether “Gordon College’s traditional inclusion of ‘homosexual practice’ as a forbidden activity” violated the association’s standards for accreditation. The Association gave Gordon one year “to ensure that the College’s policies and procedures are non-discriminatory.” The implication was clear: You have one year to choose between your conscience and your accreditation. (The Persecution of Gordon College)
Naturally, this raises the pregnant question of why an openly gay person would try to attend a private evangelical/Bible-believing college in the first place. To target the college so that the gay rights bullies could then file lawsuits against the college? It's sort of like the rash of gay couples looking for Christian bakeries, florists, and photographers to service their weddings. What an amazing coincidence.
Anyway, if this latest outrage by the gay rights gestapo succeeds, then every private religious college in the country could be forced to allow openly same-sex-married gays to attend--and presumably to live in the dorms as husband and husband and wife and wife. They could also be forced to hire gay faculty members against their will.
The Persecution of Gordon College
Gay Rights vs. Religious Liberty Again The American Conservative