Category: religion

University dismisses 2nd professor in kerfuffle over anti-trans student’s essay

Read more at LGBTQ Nation.

The University of Oklahoma (OU) recently dismissed a professor for telling students that they wouldn’t be counted absent from her class if they attended an on-campus protest in support of a transgender teaching assistant (TA) who was placed on administrative leave after she failed a student’s essay that referred to trans people as “demonic.” The newly dismissed professor reportedly didn’t give the same option to students who wanted to protest against the trans TA’s reinstatement, OU said.

OU composition professor Kelli Alvarez was accused of viewpoint discrimination for her alleged actions, OU said in an official statement cited by KFOR. OU’s director of first-year composition emailed Alvarez’s students, calling Alvarez’s actions “inappropriate and wrong,” adding, “The university classroom exists to teach students how to think, not what to think.”

The director informed students that they could miss the Friday class to attend either the protest or the counterprotest. The director also noted that Alvarez has been replaced for the remainder of the term, which ends on December 19. OU said it agrees with the director’s actions.

“Classroom instructors have a special obligation to ensure that the classroom is never used to grant preferential treatment based on personal political beliefs, nor to pressure students to adopt particular political or ideological views,” OU wrote in its statement.

At the Friday protest, hundreds of students rallied in support of Mel Curth, a trans TA who OU placed on administrative leave after she gave a student a grade of zero on an essay about a study on gender roles in which the student called trans people “demonic.” The student, Samantha Fulnecky, filed a religious discrimination complaint with OU in November, and the university put Curth on administrative leave.

Students at the protest chanted, “OU shame on you,” “Protect our professors,” and “Justice for Mel,” KOKH-TV reported. Even students who didn’t agree with Curth’s failing grade for the student agreed that Fulnecky’s essay was poorly written and that Curth didn’t need to be put on leave.

At one point in the protest, a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) supporter got in front of the crowd and began counterprotesting.

The OU Chapter of the right-wing young conservatives group published a transphobic tweet saying, “We should not be letting mentally ill professors around students. Clearly this professor lacks the intellectual maturity to set her own bias aside and take grading seriously. Professors like this are the very reason conservatives can’t voice their beliefs in the classroom.”

In her paper, Fulnecky wrote that people aren’t “pressured to be more masculine or feminine,” that she doesn’t see it as a problem when peers use teasing to enforce gender norms, and that “eliminating gender in our society… pulls us farther from God’s original plan.” She also said trans identities are “demonic and severely [harm] American youth.”

In her response, Curth — to whom the OU Department of Psychology recently gave its Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award — wrote that her grade wasn’t because Fulnecky had “certain beliefs,” but rather because the paper “does not answer the questions for this assigment, contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive.”

In a statement, OU wrote that it takes First Amendment rights and religious freedoms seriously and began a “full review” of the situation to “swiftly” address the matter, including a “formal grade appeals process” and a review of the student’s claim of “illegal discrimination based on religious beliefs.”

The university also said that Curth had been placed on administrative leave during the finalization of the discrimination review, leaving “a full-time professor” to serve as the course’s instructor for the rest of the semester.

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US Supreme Court backs parents’ right to opt out of LGBTQ-themed school books

Read more at MSN.

The United States Supreme Court has ruled in favour of a group of parents seeking to exempt their children from public school instruction that conflicts with their religious beliefs, in a 6-3 decision that reinforces constitutional protections for religious freedom.

The case was brought by Christian, Muslim, and Jewish parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, who objected to the use of LGBTQ-themed storybooks in elementary school classrooms, particularly books addressing same-sex marriage and gender identity.

Justice Samuel Alito, delivering the majority opinion, wrote that refusing to permit parents to opt their children out of such instruction “poses a very real threat of undermining their religious beliefs and practices” and violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion.

“The Montgomery County Board of Education’s introduction of the ‘LGBTQ+-inclusive’ storybooks, along with its decision to withhold opt outs, places an unconstitutional burden on the parents’ rights to the free exercise of their religion,” Alito wrote.

The justices found that the parents were likely to succeed in their legal challenge and should be granted a preliminary injunction while the case continues, meaning the school board must temporarily accommodate their request to be notified in advance of any related instruction and allow their children to be excused.

“In her dissent, Sotomayor accused the court of inventing a ‘constitutional right to avoid exposure to subtle themes contrary to the religious principles that parents wish to instill in their children.’” She was joined in dissent by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The dispute stems from a 2022 policy change when the school district introduced several LGBTQ-themed books into its language arts curriculum and initially allowed parents to opt out. A year later, the board reversed that decision, arguing the opt-out system was unmanageable and conflicted with the district’s commitment to inclusion.

The parents argued that mandatory exposure to the material, without an option to decline, amounted to “government-led indoctrination about sensitive matters of sexuality.” School officials, however, maintained that the books are intended to introduce children to “diverse viewpoints and ideas.”

During oral arguments in April, the court’s conservative majority signaled strong support for parental rights in such cases, indicating that allowing families to opt out of instruction on sensitive subjects should be “common sense.”

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Catholic preschools appeal to Supreme Court in Colorado case over LGBTQ rights and religious liberty

Read more at CPR News.

Two Denver-area Catholic parishes asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to reconsider a lower court decision that said parish preschools participating in Colorado’s state-funded preschool program couldn’t deny admission to LGBTQ children or children from LGBTQ families.

The appeal to the Supreme Court comes about six weeks after the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Catholic parishes, which had argued that enrolling children from LGBTQ families would conflict with their religious beliefs.

Gov. Jared Polis lauded the circuit court’s Sept. 30 ruling, which was a major win for the state.

If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, the justices could answer a question at the heart of the case: Can private religious schools that accept public education dollars refuse to enroll certain kids based on religious principles? The state and two lower courts have said no. The Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority, could give a different answer.

A spokesperson for Colorado Department of Early Childhood, which runs the state-funded preschool program, said officials won’t comment on pending or active litigation.

The Catholic preschools sued the state in 2023 as Colorado launched its new universal preschool program, which provides tuition-free preschool to 4-year-olds statewide. The $349 million program serves more than 40,000 children and allows families to choose from public, private, or religious preschools.

St. Mary Catholic Virtue School in Littleton and Wellspring Catholic Academy in Lakewood wanted to join the program when it started, but didn’t want to admit LGBTQ children or children from LGBTQ families.

They asked for an exemption from state rules banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but the Colorado Department of Early Childhood refused. The two preschools never joined the program, and in August 2023, the parishes that ran the preschools sued the state.

Of more than 2,000 preschools participating in Colorado’s universal preschool program this year, about 40 are religious.

Attorneys from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Catholic preschools in the case, have argued that Colorado is discriminating against the preschools based on religion.

“Colorado is picking winners and losers based on the content of their religious beliefs,” Nick Reaves, senior counsel at Becket, said in a press release Friday.

The release suggests that Colorado’s rules barring discrimination have hurt Catholic preschool enrollment.

Since universal preschool began, “enrollment at Catholic preschools has swiftly declined, while two Catholic preschools have shuttered their doors, including one that predominantly served low-income and minority families,” the press release said.

Wellspring, one of two parish preschools involved in the case, did close last year when the K-8 school it was part of closed because of low enrollment and financial problems. A Catholic preschool in Denver also shuttered when the K-8 school it was part of — Guardian Angels Catholic School — closed at the end of the 2024-25 school year. At the time the Archdiocese of Denver announced the closure of Wellspring and Guardian Angels, it also announced the consolidation of two Catholic high schools into one campus.

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Christian conservative group that tried to overturn marriage equality vows that it’s not over

Read more at LGBTQ Nation.

Liberty Counsel, the Christian hate group behind Kim Davis’s attempt to have the Supreme Court overturn its marriage equality decision, says their fight to end LGBTQ+ equality is far from over.

“I have no doubt that Davis’s resolve will serve as a catalyst to raise up many more challenges to the wrongly decided Obergefell opinion,” wrote Liberty Counsel President Mat Staver in a message on the group’s website. “Until then, we must pray, fight, and contend for when Obergefell is no longer the law of the land.”

The Supreme Court ruled in its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that people have a fundamental right to choose who to marry, regardless of their spouse’s gender. The decision legalized marriage equality in all 50 states.

A county clerk in Kentucky, Kim Davis, refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, which led to a lawsuit and ten years of legal fights.

This year, with help from the lawyers at Liberty Counsel, she filed an appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn a judgment against her that required her to pay $360,000 to a gay couple whom she had illegally denied a marriage license. In that petition, she asked the Supreme Court to end marriage equality, arguing that her case proved that LGBTQ+ equality was inherently a threat to the rights of Christians like herself.

Last week, the Supreme Court rejected her appeal, leaving its decision in favor of marriage rights in place for at least another year.

Anti-LGBTQ+ activists, though, aren’t going to give up.

“This time, Kim Davis is the victim of religious animus and is being deprived of her constitutional freedom of religion,” Staver wrote. “Tomorrow, it could be you.”

“This may mark the end of an era in litigating Davis’s case, but the fight to overturn Obergefell and protect religious liberty has just begun.”

Staver’s argument is similar to an argument that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito made in 2020 that the mere existence of married same-sex couples is a violation of Christians’ religious freedom because seeing married same-sex couples encourages people to judge Christians “as bigots.” (That opinion was delivered in the context of a different appeal filed by Davis.)

“Since Obergefell, parties have continually attempted to label people of good will as bigots merely for refusing to alter their religious beliefs in the wake of prevailing orthodoxy,” Thomas wrote at the time.

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Oaklawn UMC of Dallas steps up to the rainbow fight

Read more at Dallas Voice.

In response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that cities remove rainbow crosswalks, Oak Lawn United Methodist Church is painting its front steps in rainbow colors.

Oak Lawn United Methodist Church is a long-standing inclusive faith community in Dallas and a reconciling congregation.

The governor’s order claims that crosswalks are a distraction to drivers. However, studies have shown fewer accidents involving pedestrians happen in rainbow crosswalks.

For OLUMC, located at the corner of Oak Lawn Avenue and Cedar Springs Road which is the site of one of the crosswalks, church leaders say this act is not one of defiance, but of faith.

“It’s important because silence is not neutral — silence in the face of harm always sides with the oppressor,” said OLUMC Senior Pastor Rachel Griffin-Allison. “Painting our steps in the colors of the rainbow is a visible witness to the gospel we preach: that every person is created in the image of God and worthy of safety, dignity and belonging.”

In a written statement, the church’s leadership said it hopes the rainbow steps will serve as both a statement of solidarity and a sanctuary of hope for the LGBTQ+ community and allies across Dallas.

Members of the church, led by Robert Garcia Sr., began painting the steps on Tuesday morning, Oct. 21. Garcia said it would take four or five coats of paint before a non-slip sealer is added to preserve the rainbow.

Garcia said work on the steps should take about two weeks.

artist rendering

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Church of Norway apologizes for how it treated LGBTQ+ people

Read more at LGBTQ Nation.

The Church of Norway apologized on Thursday to the country’s LGBTQ+ community for decades of discrimination, Reuters reports.

Presiding Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit acknowledged the church’s regret at the London Pub in Oslo, site of a shooting during Pride celebrations in June 2022. Two people died in the homophobic attack.

Tveit said the Evangelical Lutheran church, the largest denomination in Norway, had caused harm to gay people and thanked those who campaigned for change.

“The church in Norway has imposed shame, great harm, and pain,” the bishop said. “This should not have happened, and that is why I apologize today.”

A similar acknowledgment by the church’s bishops in 2022 addressed past discrimination, including a description of gay people by the Norwegian Bishops’ Conference in the 1950s as a “social danger of global dimensions.”

Seventy years later, same-sex couples can marry in the Church of Norway.

A service was scheduled to follow the bishop’s remarks at the Oslo Cathedral on Thursday evening.

The church’s acknowledgement of institutional discrimination follows several over recent years by other Christian denominations.

In 2023, the Church of England apologized for “shameful” treatment of the LGBTQ+ community. The Protestant church represents 85 million Anglicans worldwide.

“We want to apologize for the ways in which the Church of England has treated LGBTQI+ people — both those who worship in our churches and those who do not,” the bishops said in a statement.

“For the times we have rejected or excluded you, and those you love, we are deeply sorry. The occasions on which you have received a hostile and homophobic response in our churches are shameful, and for this we repent.”

At the same time, bishops have refused to allow same-sex marriages in Anglican churches. Just this week, bishops turned back plans to officiate discrete blessings for same-sex couples, although these can take place within routine church services.

In August, the United Church of Canada, the largest Protestant denomination in the country, acknowledged harms to the two spirit and LGBTQ+ communities in Canada.

“We have failed to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful Creation. We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry,” said the Rev. Michael Blair, the church’s General Secretary, in a message accompanying the official apology.

“We, The United Church of Canada, express our deepest apologies to all those who have experienced homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia within The United Church of Canada,” it read in part.

Those institutional expressions of regret have been accompanied by recent individual apologies by church leaders, many in the Catholic Church.

In January, Catholic Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., issued a personal apology from the pulpit.

“I apologize for my own failure to emulate Christ’s compassion,” he said. “The way that we have treated our LGBTQ brothers and sisters has brought them tears, and to many of us, disgrace.”

“I apologize from the heart for the hurt that has resulted in the loss of so many of our family members who belong to God no less than I do,” he said.

Last year, a Catholic bishop in Germany apologized for the church’s mistreatment of LGBTQ+ people, encouraging congregants to be more supportive of equality and inclusion.

“We want to be a diocese that values ​​diversity,” Bishop Stephan Ackermann said during what he called a “public confession.” The next month, Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin also apologized, labelling homophobia an “unholy line of tradition.”

In 2016, Pope Francis said in a gaggle with reporters aboard the papal plane that Christians owe apologies to gay people and others who have been offended or exploited by the church.

“I repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that they must not be discriminated against, that they must be respected and accompanied pastorally,” Francis said.

“The Church must ask forgiveness for not behaving many times – when I say the Church, I mean Christians! The Church is holy, we are sinners!”

A formal apology from the Catholic Church has not been forthcoming.

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Church stands by call to execute gay people: “I will not apologize for preaching the Word of God.”

Read more at LGBTQ Nation.

A church leader in Indianapolis is doubling down on a sermon delivered at the Sure Foundation Baptist Church in the state’s capital city last week that called on gay people to “blow yourself in the back of the head,” among other incendiary statements.

Church leader Justin Zhong endorsed the remarks delivered by lay pastor Stephen Falco during a Men’s Preaching Night service on June 29, including his assertion that, “There’s nothing good to be proud about being a f*g. You ought to blow yourself in the head in the back of the head. You’re so disgusting.”

The church posted the sermon to YouTube, and it was widely denounced by members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies who called the hate-filled screed “theologically irresponsible” and “pastorally dangerous.”

YouTube has since removed the video for violating its terms of service. A portion of the sermon was reposted by radio station 93 WIBC Indianapolis.

“Why do I hate sodomites, why do I hate f*gs? Because they attack children, they’re coming after your children, they are attacking them in schools today, and not only schools in public places, and they’re proud about it!” Falco said during the Pride month sermon titled “Pray the gay away.”

Another man identified in the same video as “Brother Wayne” followed Falco at the pulpit with a sermon he called “Worthy of Being Beaten,” according to the Indianapolis Star. He blamed society’s moral decline on a lack of discipline and physical punishment, calling beatings a deterrent that have been lost in American culture, while aiming his harshest rhetoric at immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community.

“I don’t even understand why we’re deporting these illegal criminals who are murderers, who are doing drug trafficking, sex trafficking, human trafficking. They’re putting them on a plane, and they’re sending them over to a prison in another country,” he said. “I say we put them to death right here. I say we beat them right here.”

Brother Wayne said of gay people, “I think they should be put to death. You know what, I’ll go further. I think they should be beaten in public first for all their sick and demented, just [slur] and the things they’re doing to our schools, to our government, to our institutions, to our churches. These people should be beaten and stomped in the mud, and then they should take a gun and blow the back of their heads off.”

While not officially associated with the notorious New Independent Fundamental Baptist Church, which has long espoused the death penalty for gay people, Sure Foundation Baptist Church says their pastor, Aaron Thompson, is a new IFB church member from Vancouver, Washington.

Both churches are “KJV only”, referring to their literal interpretation of the gospel from the King James Bible.

“The Bible is crystal clear that sodomites – homosexuals – deserve the death penalty carried out by a government that actually cares about the law of God,” said church leader Zhong in Falco’s defense.

“I will not apologize for preaching the Word of God. I will not apologize for stating facts. I will not negotiate with terrorists, among whom the LGBTHIV crowd is full of domestic terrorists,” Zhong said, before citing multiple verses from the Bible to make his church’s case on Facebook.

A sermon by Falco in March even directed ire at Donald Trump for appearing religious to secure political support while having a life of pride, perversion, blasphemy, and mockery of Jesus Christ.

He cited Trump’s declaration that he would date his own daughter if they weren’t related.

“Unless Donald Trump gets saved, which I hope he does … God will judge him for it and he will go to hell.”

In his June sermon, Falco also wished death on former President Joe Biden, whom he described as “a wicked reprobate.”

“I have prayed for the death of former President Biden many times,” he boasted.

But Falco’s most outlandish and threatening rhetoric was reserved for the LGBTQ+ community, which he shouted down as “evil” and “disgusting”.

Allies and activists rallied in the community’s defense, including an association of Black churches and activists.

“Such messages are not only theologically irresponsible but pastorally dangerous,” faith-based civil rights group Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis said in a statement. “The pulpit must never be used as a weapon to dehumanize, isolate, or incite fear.”

Equality Indiana called Falco’s sermon inflammatory and extremist, saying it could inspire violence against the community.

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