Camille is a twentysomething working in the LGBT nonprofit industry. She runs an LGBT news blog at gaywrites.org.
The California Supreme Court has taken another step to formally oppose the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on LGBT adult leaders: State court judges may no longer participate in the BSA. Judges have a year to end their relationships with the organization, which in 2013 lifted its ban on LGBT youth Scouts, but not on adult leaders. This is an extension of an earlier decision in California, which said in vaguer terms that judges couldn’t belong to groups which discriminate against members based on sexual orientation. Until now, youth groups had been an exception to that rule. Read more
Lawmakers in why-is-this-still-happening Oklahoma are still pondering a Religious Freedom Act, which would make it legal for businesses to refuse service to certain people, say, LGBT people or people of a different race, if serving them would violate their religious beliefs. Oklahoma Democratic State Rep. Emily Virgin (below) has a perfect solution to one-up this gross proposal: Businesses who plan to “exercise their religious freedom” by discriminating against certain groups of people must post a public notice of their intention to do so. Here’s Virgin’s amendment to HB 1371: Read more
In the debate about whether “morality clauses” should govern the private lives of Catholic school teachers and students, San Francisco is the next battleground. And while Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (below) is firmly in favor of an anti-LGBT, anti-choice morality clause in San Francisco Catholic schools, area officials, teachers, and students aren’t having it. Read more
Andrews University in Michigan (a Christian school affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church) has hit a new low when it comes to throwing LGBT people — LGBT youth — under the bus. The campus LGBT student group AULL4One recently began planning a bake sale whose proceeds would benefit homeless LGBT youth. But in the early stages, Dean of Student Life Steve Yeagley told the group to cease and desist because the fundraiser “conflicts with their mission.” AULL4One is already taking a risk just by existing; while the university knows of the group, according to bisexual student Eliel Cruz, the club is not allowed to advertise meetings or events. And now, they’re apparently not allowed to provide support to one of the most marginalized and underserved populations in the country. Cruz asked Yeagley for more information, according to Blue Nation Review, and here’s what he got back: Read more
Wheaton College certainly had good intentions when they hosted a Town Hall Chapel for students Monday night. The annual all-school forum is meant to offer an opportunity for students to engage with the College President, currently Philip Ryken, on campus issues. But the goodwill toward men didn’t last. When Philip Fillion, a straight, married senior at the college, approached the microphone with a question about the school’s stance on same-sex relationships, things got weirdly violent. Fillion read his question aloud from a public Facebook note he’d published: “All students, via the Community Covenant, and all faculty, via the Statement of Faith, are required to affirm a sexual ethic that denies everyone except celibates and married straight people a place in the kingdom of God. This sexual ethic is not at all universal and depends on a reading of scripture that is incredibly narrow and ignores history, culture, and science. The Statement of Faith and the Community Covenant also lack any language about the sacraments of the Christian church. Why is it the case that our college, in documents we all must agree to or be expelled, insists on formally condemning and denying equality to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, on spurious theological grounds, yet completely leaves behind baptism and Eucharist, which Jesus Christ himself instituted to grow and strengthen the Christian community?” As Fillion was walking back to his seat, someone in the audience chucked an apple at him. And nobody did anything. “There was no response when the fruit was thrown. No boos, no gasp,” he says. “A student was in line after me and when it was his turn to ask a question, he began his time at the microphone by calling out whoever had thrown the fruit, remarking that such behavior was inappropriate and disrespectful. There was restrained applause for this.” “President Ryken did not see the incident and did not fully understand what happened until after chapel ended,” Wheaton College told TIME in a statement. But that wasn’t the end of it. Shortly after the forum, a person who claims to be the apple-thrower posted a letter defending himself on a public wall at Wheaton designated for sharing student opinions. Read more
