Post by Ayla on Dec 10, 2015 10:52:47 GMT 8
EARLIER THIS YEAR, the president of a religious university in Northeast Portland wrote a letter dripping with contradiction.
In a February missive [pdf] to the US Department of Education (ED), Multnomah University President G. Craig Williford wrote that his school "affirms the dignity of all human beings," and that staff "believe that, as Christians, we are called to treat all people with compassion."
Then he asked the ED to look the other way as Multnomah rejects an entire segment of society. "Compassion," at Multnomah University, doesn't extend to transgender people.
The tiny, 79-year-old nondenominational university is one of a growing number of religious schools around the country asking the federal government for an exemption from anti-discrimination laws where gender identity is concerned. Basically, the school's arguing its religious beliefs don't allow it to accept or employ transgender people, but that should have no bearing on the federal funding it happily accepts each year.
That argument will probably fly. Title IX, the four-decade-old statute Multnomah wants to dodge, is a powerful defense against discrimination on the basis of sex. But it also allows faith-based schools to slide if they argue not discriminating against people "would not be consistent" with their religious tenets.
The provision's been in the law since it was created in 1972, but it wasn't until Newberg's George Fox University successfully won a Title IX exemption last year—in order to refuse a male transgender student who wanted to live in men's housing—that requests became frequent.
"They basically gave these schools a green flag when they said the exemptions now extend to gender identity," says Mat dos Santos, legal director at the ACLU of Oregon. "This is totally new territory."
www.portlandmercury.com/portland/a-portland-university-wants-federal-permission-to-ban-transgender-students/Content?oid=17134931#fromMobile
In a February missive [pdf] to the US Department of Education (ED), Multnomah University President G. Craig Williford wrote that his school "affirms the dignity of all human beings," and that staff "believe that, as Christians, we are called to treat all people with compassion."
Then he asked the ED to look the other way as Multnomah rejects an entire segment of society. "Compassion," at Multnomah University, doesn't extend to transgender people.
The tiny, 79-year-old nondenominational university is one of a growing number of religious schools around the country asking the federal government for an exemption from anti-discrimination laws where gender identity is concerned. Basically, the school's arguing its religious beliefs don't allow it to accept or employ transgender people, but that should have no bearing on the federal funding it happily accepts each year.
That argument will probably fly. Title IX, the four-decade-old statute Multnomah wants to dodge, is a powerful defense against discrimination on the basis of sex. But it also allows faith-based schools to slide if they argue not discriminating against people "would not be consistent" with their religious tenets.
The provision's been in the law since it was created in 1972, but it wasn't until Newberg's George Fox University successfully won a Title IX exemption last year—in order to refuse a male transgender student who wanted to live in men's housing—that requests became frequent.
"They basically gave these schools a green flag when they said the exemptions now extend to gender identity," says Mat dos Santos, legal director at the ACLU of Oregon. "This is totally new territory."
www.portlandmercury.com/portland/a-portland-university-wants-federal-permission-to-ban-transgender-students/Content?oid=17134931#fromMobile
