From the Los Angeles Times

School can expel lesbian students, court rules

An appeals panel finds California Lutheran High School in Riverside County is not a business and therefore doesn't have to comply with a state law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.

By Maura Dolan
January 28, 2009

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/la-me-school28-2009jan28,0,97482.story


When and where will we draw the line??? yikes

sounds like the line is drawn

you can't force a private school to do something that is against their charter. It would be like forcing an Islamic school to accept Jews

thats just really messed up ya know? kicking somebody out of a higher education just because of their preference between male and female sexuality... thats just really sad, its like a rainbow version of the salem witch hunt...

The girls were expelled in their junior year for "conducting themselves in a manner consistent with being lesbians," said McKay, who added that the girls never disclosed their sexual orientation during the litigation. Hanson said the girls had been "best friends" and, citing their privacy, declined to discuss their sexual orientation. They are now in college, he said.


the line appears to be written in pencil


was not referring to forcing any institution to do anything - but found this to be a mere judgement call

Pretty complex issue here.

With a ton of perhaps they could have handled it differently situations along the way.

In the end, however, if this is a private religious school that receives no public money and uses no public facilities then I think it's their right to admit or dismiss whom ever they'd like.

I might take issue with the idea that they are not a business. Do they have employees? Pay taxes?

business n. any activity or enterprise entered into for profit. It does not mean it is a company, a corporation, partnership, or have any such formal organization, but it can range from a street peddler to General Motors.
Copyright © 1981-2005 by Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen T. Hill

Religious Private schools discriminate because they can. Period. But smarter lesbians or bisexuals would have known better than to make it so obvious in a private school.

They should have known the school authorities were going to take an antiquated ignorance stance.

I bet the school thinks they only have two gay girls, that's even funnier than this story. What you resist persists. A lesson the church never seems to learn.

All they will accomplish is to closet more students temporarily.

Well said.

A quote from the article I read was:



NOW – the following quote explains how it was determined that this “scandalous conduct” was going on.



I wonder how many other students MySpace and Facebook were “RESEARCHED” in order to find other students committing scandalous atrocities? Maybe it's only the gay ones that deserve exploration?

Is this what ANYONE would expect an educator to spent their time doing? Were the girls disruptive in any other way – it seems not.
But then we have a quote that seems to add to the irrational sentiment of this whole school:



All the sudden the ‘lawyer’ for the school, has determined that the young girls did not believe in God at all.

I have to agree with what Lynann said regarding the school being a ‘business’, obviously it IS IN BUSINESS and in that sense, it seems to me, it ceases to be conduct that would be associated with the Constitutionally protected right to worship and believe as one will.

For once a ‘business’ sets up with the motive of making a profit, how can that be related in any respect to the non-profit and protected status of a church or religious organization that would allow individual to worship as they will?

When does ‘individual’ preference and choice take affect? At what age is a person emancipated to ‘believe’ and ‘claim’ their belief, without fear of parental, educational or any other institutional backlash?

Would it not be child abuse if the ‘families’ had turned out two 15 or 16 year olds into the streets?

But the school, which runs as a business for profit, has the right to ‘turn out’, turn away from children.

I wonder – if the parents were part of the “Lutheran Sunday Club?” I wonder if THEY were, likewise, asked not to bring their children to church, or maybe they were simply uninvited themselves.

Not that it matters much to me, other than I despise what grown adults are allowed to impose on children, because in the long run such "news" sensationalism only serves to sever more ties to the fundamental Christian clubs. They are beaking themselves apart, I say let them continue to do so.

I know so many kind and wonderful "Designer Christians." So let the outcasts realize they are better off developing their own personal beliefs, for their own personal comfort and not the comfort of OTHERS.

Silly gay people, don't they know private schools aren't for them? You'd think they would learn after awhile, when everytime a gay gets kicked out of a private school and cries like the gayest person in the world. But they don't. Gays must be overly dramatic

Honestly, I am glad the line was even FOUND.

You really need to hush now.

Sometimes it's better to be perceived a fool than to open one's mouth and confirm it.

Just in case you replied without reading - let me enlighten the ignorance. These were 'children.' In our current culture it is not EASY to understand what puberty sets upon us, especially for those who stand out against the crowd. Not many children are sure enough about what they feel, nor are they educated enough to know what that means and finally not many believe, who they are, will be accepted.

Now confound the issue with the fact that THEIR PARENTS SENT THEM to this school, do you think they would be brave enough to go to their parents and say I'm confused, I think I'm gay?

Damnitscloudy in here sometimes!

It seems they might not be the only ones that are overly dramatic judging by your responses.

well there goes their softball team.

Wow, you try to make a joke and everyone jumps on you. Ohwell i'll go back to normal threads where people aren't so crazy

of all places California

about time they FINALLY got something right!

Was that really a joke, Damnitscloudy? Reread it from the point of view of a gay person and then tell me what you think. No reader in this forum or any other will know someone is joking if they don't make it clear that that is what they are doing, especially with such a topic. If I myself owe you and apology I would be happy to give it, but there was nothing in that post that indicated it was a joke, so how could I have taken it differently, ya know?

No need to worry, most schools don't mess with the softball team.. LOL

Its hard to type sarcasm into these posts, so i will apologize to those who took it the wrong way.