A lesbian couple charges that O'Hara Catholic School in Eugene, Oregon, refused to admit their 4-year-old daughter because of their sexual orientation. According to the AP, the couple has complained to the Eugene Human Rights Commission and the Oregon Child Care Division. One of the women, Lee Inkmann, said O'Hara Principal Dianne Bert told her in mid-August that having a family with two mothers at the school would confuse other children and that gay unions are in conflict with Vatican teachings.
This story is disturbing, but not for the obvious reasons. As much as we may disagree with the Vatican's anti-gay stance, the Church has a right to determine its own policies and to have those views reflected in the private schools it runs. If we want to demand that the wall separating church and state be respected so as to prevent religious doctrine from becoming government policy, then we must recognize that religious institutions also have a right to assert their own teachings free from government interference. Aside from the public (government) school system, there must be many private schools that would have been happy to accept this child. So why not go to the local Montessori school, for instance, rather than turning to the government to force the Church to accept a child from a home that obviously doesn't adhere to Church beliefs?
This is the kind of overreach that fuels the fires of the religious
right, where the case is already
heating up websites.
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