The Christian Legal Society (CLS), a group of Christian lawyers and judges, bans gays from becoming voting members or officers. The problem is, they're not satisfied just discriminating – they want to force Hasting College to endorse their anti-gay policy by making CLS an official college group.
Now I'd be the first to defend CLS's right to discriminate, based on any criteria they like. A lot of people think discrimination is illegal in all circumstances, but it's not. I'm perfectly free to ban anyone I like from my own home for any reason at all, be it race, religion or the color of their hair. You and I can form a club and be as hateful as we like, ban anyone we want for any reason, however despicable, and it's nobody else's business.
But what we can't do is force someone else to share our bigotry, and that's exactly what these Christian judges and lawyers are trying to do. They want to discriminate against gays, and they also think Hastings College should be forced to support their discrimination, with money and official recognition.
According to CLS's press release:
"Public universities shouldn't single out Christian student groups for discrimination. ... It's completely unreasonable–and unconstitutional–for a public university to disrupt the purposes of private student groups by forcing them to accept as members and officers those who oppose the very ideas they advocate."Do these guys think the Supreme Court justices are stupid? Nobody is forcing the CLS to do anything. They're free to discriminate all they like, as long as they do it within their own organization. It's the CLS that is trying to force Hastings to violate its own ethical standards.
I have faith in our United States Supreme Court, and I predict that the Christian Legal Society's case will be thrown out, as it should be.
And the Christian Legal Society should be ashamed of itself for demonstrating such an egregious misunderstanding of the United States Constitution.
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Dear readers -- I am no longer blogging and after leaving these blogs open for two years have finally stopped accepting comments due to spammers. Thanks for your interest. If you'd like to write to me, click on the "Contact" link at the top. Thanks! -- CJ.
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