Some US Christian schools believe relig eedom means they n fire gay teachers | LGBTQ+ rights | The Guardian

Contents:

• SOME US CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS BELIEVE RELIG EEDOM MEANS THEY N FIRE GAY TEACHERS
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
• WT MIDLANDS SCHOOL CRICISED AFTER ATH THREATS TO GAY MLIM SPEAKER
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI
• IS BEG GAY A S?

SOME US CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS BELIEVE RELIG EEDOM MEANS THEY N FIRE GAY TEACHERS

The stunt, a junr at Plawell High School, was given a three-day spensn after he told another stunt via text msage that he believed beg gay is “a s” acrdg to his terpretatns of lsons om the Bible. Acrdg to the lawsu, Stout was spend after he told another stunt a text msage April that he believed “homosexual nduct” was s, cg teachgs om the Bible.

Stout, a sectn lear the school’s band, was also spend for allegedly lghg at “appropriate racial and homophobic ‘jok’” ma by other band members on school grounds over the summer, acrdg to the lawsu. HOUSE COMMITTEE IN FLORIDA PASSES ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL.

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

Instead, he was terrogated wh a seri of vague, leadg qutns that attempted to get him to adm he was had been out for years – and knew his ntract never stated he uldn’t be gay and teach at Valor – but shame-filled memori of his closeted years as a young man rose up that moment, as his job slipped away. “They offered to help me stop beg gay, wh my ‘stggle’, ” Tonga says.

”The offer they ma was for Tonga to attend some form of “nversn therapy”, and when he returned to announce he isn’t gay, cut off ntact wh his fiance, scb his social media of any support for the LGBTQ muny, and nounce his support for them before the school. “They said a lot of parents pay a lot of money to go to Valor, jt so their kids don’t have to mentored by someone who is gay, ” he cled their offer, and rigned. Outrage on the part of stunts, parents, alumni and alli over Tonga losg his job for beg gay is part of a s-long battle between anti-discrimatn laws and the right of private Christian schools (of which there are approximately 34, 500 the US alone) to relig sce the 1964 Civil Rights Act threatened the tax-exempt stat of Christian schools who refed to racially tegrate, relig schools the US have tangled wh social jtice activists seekg equal protectns for mory stunts and employe.

A nearly intil scenar volvg a gay mic teacher fired om a Catholic school played out only a short distance away at the same issue is further plited stat like Florida – where the le between public school and private relig school is sometim blurred. Steven Arz, a sixth-gra history teacher, found himself fired om a Seventh Day Adventist school – which is publicly fund wh $1m a year tax dollars and creds – after he was featured a Gay Wh Kids article where he discsed his adopted son. ”Block and the ACLU have found some succs ligatg the month, a feral judge led that the firg of the North Carola teacher Lonnie Billard om a Catholic school for beg gay was a vlatn of the Civil Rights Act, shuttg down the school’s attempt to argue that they had a relig exemptn om the law.

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

“Today’s cisn validat that I did nothg wrong by beg a gay man. ”This laid the groundwork for the followg generatn of evangelil lears such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Tim LeHay, who partnered wh the Republin party to stir up anger around issu evangelils prevly red ltle about, like abortn, dgs and the rights of women and gays. Campaigns to overturn gay rights legislatn like “Save Our Children” Florida (led by evangelil superstar Ana Bryant), or California’s Prop 6, which sought to ban gay men and lbians om teachg public schools, both equated homosexualy wh pedophilia and acced gay teachers of beg sexually motivated their reer the villas were new, the tactic of gng up basels fears had been the rnerstone of whe flight to Christian schools a Jon Universy’s lack of black stunts was rooted s ban on terracial datg.

When the universy eventually tegrated 1971, allowed only married black stunts to attend, and 1975 allowed sgle black stunts but nied “admissn to applints engaged an terracial marriage or known to advote terracial marriage or datg” openly opposg racial tegratn eventually beme an effective tool for galvanizg evangelil voters – replaced by racist dog-whistl – gays tegratg themselv to the Amerin fay remaed a potent touchstone for the Christian right.

“In 2004, evangelil lears were nng out of money and their voters had been fallg away, so they all got a room together to ci what issu would brg their flock back to the fold, and they cid on gay marriage, ” says Fzgerald. “And so they flood the natn wh anti–gay marriage ballot measur, and that not only helped get Gee W Bh elected to a send term, but the ballot measur sometim performed better than he did … They were agast gay people prciple, but they also thought gay teachers were a bigger threat to kids than anythg. While the Christian right views gay teachers as a threat to stunts, the Trevor Project’s rearch shows that “LGBTQ youth who have accs to an LGBTQ-affirmg school report lower rat of attemptg suici.

WT MIDLANDS SCHOOL CRICISED AFTER ATH THREATS TO GAY MLIM SPEAKER

Through their Gay Straight Alliance (which has to meet off mp) and a list of mands for school learship, the group aims to make their school a place where all stunts n feel safe and Guardian reached out to Valor high school to ment on Tonga and Valor for Change, but did not receive a ’s a mister? While 81% of Amerins say gay teachers should be able to teach at elementary schools, relig schools terg to the remag 19% have been velopg a varied strategy for keepg them out of their classrooms.

“There are nstutnal arguments they make, that [beg forced to employ gay teachers] vlat their eedom of associatn, ee exercise of relign, but those have been rejected, ” says Joshua Block of the ACLU. ”So if Valor Christian high school wanted to say that bee Inoke Tonga, for example, led his stunts a prayer before a volleyball game, or spoke of the holy spir guidg them durg a game, uld his firg for beg gay fall unr a misterial exemptn om discrimatn laws? Adam is gay and this book clud lot of sexual referenc.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson. Release follows Adam Thorn, a gay teenager, and his life wh his parents, who are vout Christians and would no doubt be very upset if they knew, and his adult brother, Marty.

IS BEG GAY A S?

In 2019, the Atlantic ran an opn piece tled “The stggle for gay rights is over”. The mise of the homophobic Defense of Marriage Act 2013 was followed by the end of the feral ban on marriage equaly 2015. Wispread acceptance of same-sex marriage rights, gay people servg the ary and the need for protectns for LGBTQ+ people followed.

As recently as 2020, the urt, then wh two Tmp appote, led that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protected gay, lbian and transgenr workers. In 1985, 89% of parents said they would be sad if they disvered their child was gay or a lbian. A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law.