“At Union University, we believe that all persons have inherent dignity and thus should be treated with kindness and respect,” said a school spokesperson. Paul Southwick, director of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project It causes them to have to remain in the closet, to conceal, to be super vigilant about their behavior.” “These policies that criminalize their identities and behavior, it’s like this dark cloud hanging over their head. A common theme, according to the complaint, is how school authorities examine students’ social media posts for evidence of their sexual orientation or gender identity, or their support for LGBTQ rights. A gay man alleges that Union University rescinded his offer of admission after discovering he was engaged to a man another, who felt called to ministry and enrolled at Fuller Seminary, was expelled after only a few days because he is married to a man. One plaintiff alleges authorities at Bob Jones University combed her social media and disciplined her for refusing to disavow her support for LGBTQ rights. The complaint, filed in federal court in Oregon in 2021, recounts vivid details from the initial 33 plaintiffs. Within three months of graduation, Hartzler joined a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Education, asking the court to strike down the religious exemption as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and of the students’ equal protection rights.
#Gay pride rainbow key fob series
He managed to avoid a series of “accountability meetings” with deans, move off campus and finish his degree in psychology remotely, graduating in May 2021. Faced with the possibility of punishment and even expulsion from the university, Hartzler got an unexpected reprieve when Covid shut down the campus.
![gay pride rainbow key fob gay pride rainbow key fob](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/37gAAOxybLpRg0~O/s-l300.jpg)
In his junior year, he was summoned to a dean’s office after he was reported for having his boyfriend, who was not an ORU student, in his dorm room. Vicky Hartzler, who has pushed for some of the most expansive restrictions on gay people, was suspended from Twitter for an anti-trans post, and is now running in the Republican Senate primary to replace the retiring Roy Blunt.ĭuring his time at ORU, Hartzler, now 23, assiduously concealed his sexual identity from school officials in order to avoid a punishment that would jeopardize his degree. His parents live on the same property in suburban Kansas City, Missouri, as his father’s brother and his wife, Rep. At home, church, and the Christian schools he attended, he was consistently taught that homosexuality was sinful, and that gay people were ungodly and even criminal. But his father, who had raised him in a deeply conservative Christian environment, told him it was the only university he would pay for his son to attend. ORU wasn’t Andrew Hartzler’s first choice for college.
![gay pride rainbow key fob gay pride rainbow key fob](https://img.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/TB17vtORVXXXXcWapXXXXXXXXXX.jpg)
Under a change made by the Trump administration, a university can even request the exemption after being accused of discrimination.
![gay pride rainbow key fob gay pride rainbow key fob](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/clEAAOSwrklVViF4/s-l300.jpg)
To qualify for the exemption, a religious college or university need only notify the Department of Education of how complying with the law’s nondiscrimination provisions would conflict with its religious tenets. But none of these protections exist for an estimated 100,000 LGBTQ students at over 200 religious colleges and universities that have taken advantage of the law’s expansive religious exemption. Since the mid-2010s, as courts and policymakers began interpreting “sex” in federal civil rights statutes to include gender identity and later, sexual orientation, these protections have expanded to LGBTQ students. I will not be united in marriage other than the marriage between one man and one woman.”Īt any other non-religious college, such a pledge would be a violation of a 1972 federal law that protects against sex discrimination at schools that receive federal funding. Like all students, Hartzler had signed a pledge: “I will not engage in or attempt to engage in any illicit, unscriptural sexual acts, which include any homosexual activity and sexual intercourse with one who is not my spouse.
#Gay pride rainbow key fob code
Hartzler, who is gay, did not raise his hand, acutely aware that at ORU, being gay is an honor code offense punishable by expulsion.