Gay Rights Coaln v. Geetown Univ. - 536 A.2d 1
Contents:
GEETOWN ELECTS FIRST GAY STUNT ASSOC. PRINT
The gay-rights movement is beg felt at many of the natn’s Catholic lleg and universi, perhaps nowhere as visibly as at Geetown, the untry’s olst Catholic universy. * gay student georgetown university *
”As the natnal gay rights movement touch down state legislatur, the Supreme Court and even the Boy Suts, is also beg felt at many of the natn’s 267 Roman Catholic lleg and universi, where stunts and admistrators are grapplg wh what means to be young, gay and Catholic 2013. The seemgly ntradictory missns have ed tensn recent years, particularly as Catholic stutns seek to te and protect the health of their stunts, many of whom are sexually year, Ryan Fecte beme the first openly gay speaker of the General Assembly at the Catholic Universy of Ameri, which is n by the church. Acrdg to a recent Qunipiac poll, 62 percent of 18- to 34-year-old Catholics favor legalizg same-sex marriage, pared wh 48 percent of those 35 to 54, and 39 percent 55 and a much-talked-about opn piece April The Hoya, tled “Marriage an Instutn Defed by Procreatn, ” Andrew Schillg, a ernment major om Iowa, argued support of the church’s stance on homosexualy.
Nate Tisa beme the first gay print of Geetown Universy Stunt Associatn%28GSA%29 on March 17Third openly gay man to lead stunt ernment at a Catholic llegeGeetown broke wh Roman Catholic Church straight male learship tradn last year%2C too%2C by electg their first female GUSA print%2C Clara Tisa beme the first gay print of Geetown Universy Stunt Associatn (GSA) on March, 20, is the third openly gay man to lead stunt ernment at a Catholic llege.
While I regnize your disagreement wh this posn, I was not dissuad by your argument that the Universy uld on the one hand grant official regnn (fed by Stunt Government's recently updated creria as "endorsement of the var -curricular activi unrtaken by a specific club") and on the other hand, disclaim "endorsement" of the major activi which, by fn, are associated wh a gay anizatn.... Judge Ban also found that Geetown's nial of "Universy Regnn" was based on s view, one not whout foundatn, that "the gay stunt anizatns, as evinced by their charters and their activi, were participatg and promotg homosexual life styl, " and that Geetown was religly opposed to this type of group activy.
GAY RIGHTS COALN V. GEETOWN UNIV.
* gay student georgetown university *
Here, bee the answer to both of those distct qutns is termed by objective reference to the "purpos and activi" of the stunt groups, what are normally two separate quiri llapse to one: did the homosexual orientatn of the group members e them to be treated differently om other applints? Bee GRC's purpos clu an asexual mment to servg the broad range of needs experienced by *28 homosexual stunts, but no statement as to the propriety of homosexual nduct, Geetown's objectn to that anizatn mt to some extent have been prompted by the sexual orientatn of s members. At no time has Geetown fed what meant by "the full range of issu" associated wh the gay stunt groups, spe s sistence that Roman Catholic doctre favors the provisn of equal civil and polil rights to homosexually oriented persons and that s relig objectn was directed only to the promotn of homosexual nduct.
Gottied's statement was later repeated by Dean Schuerman, who wrote that the Universy would not lend s endorsement, support or approval to "the posns taken by the gay movement on a full range of issu" or "the major activi and issu which, by fn, are associated wh a gay anizatn. Siarly, when Dean McCarthy turned down GRC's applitn at the Law Center, he wrote that the Universy would not lend s official subsidy and support to a gay law stunt anizatn bee that "would be terpreted by many as endorsement of the posns taken by the gay movement on a full range of issu. Other nclive evince that Geetown took homosexual orientatn to acunt s regnn procr is supplied by the fact that on the same day as he nied "Universy Regnn" to GRC at the Law Center, Print Healy wrote an sentially intil letter to the Chancellor of the Medil Center, spe the fact that no homosexually oriented stunts there had ever applied for such stat.
MARTHA GAY, PH.D.
It is apparent om this rrponnce, all of which was before Judge Braman when he granted summary judgment on the discrimatn issue, that Geetown's nial of tangible benefs was not closely tied to specific "purpos and activi" of the stunt groups promotg the homosexual nduct nmned by Roman Catholic doctre. By objectg to the stunt groups' assumed nnectn, "by fn, " to a "full range of issu" associated wh the "gay movement, " rather than to specific "purpos and activi" nsistent wh s Roman Catholic tradn, Geetown engaged the kd of stereotypg unrelated to dividual mer that is forbidn by the Human Rights Act. " HOMOSEXUALITIES A STUDY OF DIVERSITY AMONG MEN AND WOMEN, supra, at 24-25; see also Pl, Social Issu and Homosexual Behavr: A Taxonomy of Categori and Them Anti-Gay Argument (discsg false stereotyp affectg gay people) HOMOSEXUALITY: SOCIAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ISSUES, supra, at 29, 46-52.
Fally, due to the legal and social penalti monly triggered by public acknowledgement of homosexualy or bisexualy, persons so oriented may nstute "discrete and sular mori" whose terts have tradnally been neglected by "the operatn of those polil procs ordarily to be relied upon to protect mori. The pellg terts, therefore, that any state has eraditg discrimatn agast the homosexually or bisexually oriented clu the fosterg of dividual digny, the creatn of a climate and environment which each dividual n utilize his or her potential to ntribute to and benef om society, and equal protectn of the life, liberty and property that the Foundg Fathers guaranteed to all. Addrs by Melv Boozer to 1980 Democratic Natnal Conventn ("I know what means to be lled a nigger, and I know what means to be lled a faggot, and I n sum up the difference one word: none"), quoted Pearson, Homosexual Rights Activist Melv Boozer Di at 41, The Washgton Post, Mar.
Balancg the ernmental tert terrg unlawful stutnal discrimatory practic, agast the Universy's own rights unr the ee exercise clse of the first amendment, I nclu, the prent circumstanc, that nothg the Act requir the Universy, over s nstutnal objectns, to publicly associate self or affirmatively support the goals or activi of the gay stunt anizatns. I jo the urt's nclns that Geetown Universy has vlated the District of Columbia Human Rights Act by nyg the tangible benefs associated wh "Universy Regnn" to the stunt groups Gay People of Geetown Universy (GPGU) and Gay Rights Coaln (GRC) on the prohibed ground of their sexual orientatn, and that the Universy's ee exercise fense is of no avail.