Christian College Professor: 'Am I a Traitor to the LGBT Cause?'

It upsets me that you are forced to sign something like that to keep your job. I don't feel hurt that you sign it, but I feel hurt by whoever wrote it.
All it comes down to is what you can morally come to terms with. Is there anyway to suggest removing that sentence in a less direct way? Not to replace it with something positive, but just to have it acknowledged as outdated and alienating and therefore erase it?

 

To be honest, I'm not sure that someone that doesn't have the integrity to refuse this document is someone we want to bother having the support of. Not that he can't redeem himself, of course...

It's a sad situation etc. etc. and so on.. but at the end of the day his actions are actively fighting against us.

 

Okay, but his quitting wouldn't exactly change anything either? The statement won't be removed even if he did.
His actions right now are fighting against our cause, I agree, but his quitting won't rectify that. If anything, he can help our cause more by staying at the college and teaching his students the same open-mindedness that he holds. We can all agree that a Christian college would be perfect for bigoted folks to start making realizations. I wonder why he doesn't see that his job gives him a lot of power and that even though he can't change the institution, he can help by enlightening the young.
If that puts his job at risk, then he no longer has any reason to stay at the college. They wouldn't be giving him the freedom that he enjoyed.

 

I really not bothered by him signing it at all, although I cant say the same thing for the person who wrote it. I think this is exactly the type of person we want support from most people would sign it and not think twice about it.

 

As a gay kid that ended up at a conservative christian college, I was so appreciative of the fact that I could talk to many of my professors openly. So I guess, while signing the paper may be wrong it may be outweighed by the service the professor could be providing.

 

Obviously there is a moral dilemma for this professor. He has his principles as a human, but he also has to earn a living.

In the past, I have been in conflict with a previous employer who expected me to bully and mistreat the people I was responsible for, as he did. He was also operating illegally and I "unionized" the work-force and started proceedings to have the law conformed with.

I was fired. I took him to court and I won. The stress of proving myself right and justified was enormous, though, and taking on any battle with an employer is not to be taken lightly.

He could resign and find a job elsewhere, as could I have done, but essentially it means that you are walking away from the problem rather than addressing it. Despite the fact that I was uneployed, my main problem was the fact that I had "left" my people in a bad place and it caused me many tears. Over the course of 18 months, however, my boss was also fired by the Board of Trustees, and all the changes I had sought to introduce were safeguarded. I was even asked if I wanted my job back, but by that time I was working elsewhere and was very, very happy.

I sense a difference in attitude here. In most of Europe, it would be against Equal Opportunities legislation to make a document like this mandatory. It would be seen as discriminatory practice on the part of the empoyer. I work also in a Christian setting but the extent of my "commitment" to the school's ethos was limited to a conversation during my interview, nothing in writing. I am openly gay, to staff, managers and students. I teach respect and acceptance, as do ALL my colleagues, and sexuality is just not an issue.

Is the requirement to sign this document something that could be challenged in court? Does he want to take this route, given the frenzy it would evoke? What would he achieve?

I find the extent to which religion still plays such an active role in non-church instancies in the US interesting to say the least.

 

Enjoyed your story. But just was going to say, that I don't think there is any ground to take this to court. In the states, private colleges can discriminate as they want. A lot of them have statement of faiths that people have to sign if they want to work there.

 

Thanks for the information, Jonah. You confirm what I suspected.

In his situation, I would leave and work somewhere I didn't have to compromise my principles.

You statement illustrates the gulf between the European and American approaches to employment and civil rights.

Could such a private college state that black students were no longer to be admitted? Surely that could be challenged if a "religious group" decided that this was to be one of the articles of their association?

 

I'm not entirely sure how that would work anymore. I imagine the school would lose its tax exemptions from the federal government and would have difficulty getting its programs accredited.

The other issue potentially at play, is that racial discrimination is subject to a higher level of scrutiny under federal law. Not sure if that applies here, but it might.

That said, up till 2000 Bob Jones university barred interracial dating. And then during the initial days when it became illegal to have segregation many private primary schools 'popped up' that were white only.

So anyway, all that said I'm not entirely sure. I suspect it is still legal but I'm not 100% sure.