University: Want your college degree? Attend "gay pride" parades.

And so it goes, apparently without any end in sight:

ATLANTA (BP) -- The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has heard arguments in a religious liberty case that could determine whether a college has the right to require students to profess certain beliefs about homosexuality in order to get a degree.

Augusta State University, in east Georgia, put counseling student Jennifer Keeton on academic probation in 2010 after she acknowledged in private conversations and during class that she disagreed with homosexuality. School administrators claimed Keeton said it would be hard for her to counsel gay clients, a stance they said violated ethical standards for licensed counselors, as put forth by the American Counseling Association.

Faculty members also faulted Keeton for saying she wanted to work with conversion therapy -- which aims to help clients stop living a homosexual lifestyle -- after graduation. And the faculty feared Keeton might harm middle and high school students she was scheduled to work with as part of her degree plan, said Cristina Correia, the state attorney who argued the school's case.

"The university has a responsibility when putting students in a practicum and graduating them," Correia told the court during oral arguments Nov. 29 in Atlanta. "When you have that kind of evidence, the faculty could not, under their ethical standards, put that student in a clinical setting without further remediation."

After putting her on probation, school administrators required Keeton to complete a remediation plan that included going to gay pride events, attending sensitivity training and writing monthly reflection papers. Keeton declined to participate in the plan, and the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit on her behalf in July 2010.

Read the entire piece.

The debate, if there even is one, is no longer about whether or not homosexuality is morally wrong, but whether there are any limits as to how much pro-homosexual propaganda can be shoved down our throats. And while the government pretends to be "neutral" about such things, it's good to bear in mind that when it comes to right and wrong, the state cannot, ultimately, be neutral, no matter claims to the contrary.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I had to take nearly forty hours of classes from the Oregon Department of Human Services in order to pursue the adoption of a young boy from another state (Dominic's adoption was finalized this past February). It was a lesson in well-intentioned, very polite, state-faciliated, tax-financed intimidation, especially when it came to issues of sexual morality (and race, but that's another story). The class of about 60 potential foster parents (the 75% of whom were seeking to become foster parents of their own biological grandchildren) were informed in no uncertain way that "being gay" is a wonderful and natural way of being, and that they could not—in any form or fashion—discourage a child from "exploring" and "expressing" their sexuality. Moreover, foster parents were encouraged (quite strongly, in fact) to learn more about the joy of being "gay" by reading "gay" literature, attending "gay pride" events, and so forth. It was clearly communicated, in various ways, that one's religious and personal beliefs meant nothing; they weren't to be expressed or allowed.

To borrow from Mark Shea, the Gay Brownshirts have, for all intents and purposes, won the day. As well as the minds and moral compasses of the current generation. And if you think they are going to be nice or fair or tolerant with their cultural prisoners, think again.

Comments

[Leo Ladenson]

I call this soft tyranny of homophilia the "Sultanate of Sodom." And we religious believers are now dhimmis.

[Howard]

This is very similar to the "soft persecution" of Julian the Apostate. He barred Christians from being teachers, because not believing in the pagan gods, they would be "unable" to teach the mythology-laden classics.

[Kevin J]

"It was a lesson in well-intentioned, very polite, state-faciliated, tax-financed intimidation..."

And no one complained for fear it would prevent them from being foster families. I didn't think the country was this bad yet.

[Marc]

I did foster care in Oregon for a year or so and the 'polite, state-facilitated, tax-financed intimidation' was there, in the background more or less, during the training and certification process-- for the most part unspoken, however, because my 'day job' is 'in social services' and I figured that the county people knew that I was already on board with all of it.

[Linus]

" Unless you have the mark of the beast you cannot do business..." The push to make immorality legally inforceable was prophysied in Revelations. Unless men and women of conscience get off their duffs life will become nearly impossible for them. And "...for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened..."

[Benjamin Scanlon]

like most, i don't agree with the first point. and the third just sounds ridiculous.

however as to the second, her teachers' concerns may well be that:

1. conversion therapy isn't science - not that all therapy is science but conversion therapy is balls to an even higher degree than most of it, and

2. that it just doesn't work, as hundreds of ‘ex-ex-gays’ and the sex scandals that blight the proponents of the therapy on a regular basis amply demonstrate.

disagreeing with homosexuality is one thing.

taking a trip off into fantasy land on the basis of that dislike, and urging vulnerable clients to join you, is quite another.

[Joe]

Ben Scanlon,

"Conversion" therapy doesn't work. If it is understood as killing gay desires. However, I have seen it work if it means converting someone from a gay to a straight lifestyle. The myth is that gay desires, any more than other sexual desires, are wholly determinative of destiny and choices, which is pure rubbish. I can rattle of three families that, from appearances, are living proof that we can bend our wills and desires towards order versus disorder. Otherwise, we should all applaud the men who leave wives and children to embrace their true selves.

The fantasy is using terms like "disagreeing with" to talk about sexual behavior which to any observant person is unnatural and offensive behavior. I disagree with Obamacare. I do not 'disagree' with bestiality--by use of reason it is just clearly wrong. One million happy man-guppie partnerships notwithstanding. In a sane environment we would say the same thing about sex between two people of the same gender.

[Tim]

To say 'don't force your beliefs on me' is to say 'I'm forcing my beliefs on you, so make it easy for me, please.' We can't allow ourselves to be intimidated by this. "We won't call blue yellow to please those who insist on still having jaundice." - C.S. Lewis

[Rev. James]

She had/s the choice to attend a school that believes as she does. She can get a "counselling" degree from a religious school and then people who come to her for "counselling" will know from the start what her opinions are about sex and sexuality.

The school to be accredited must adhere to the ethical standards of the relevant accrediting body.

If a gay goes to a religious church run college and refuses to abide by their sexual code of ethics they do not graduate, they are expelled.

This is about this young lady not doing due diligence on where and what she chose to study.

Would it be ethical for a medical school to train a person to be a Dr. if they knew that they planed to use their training to cut off the hands of thieves in Saudi Arabia, or perform genital mutilation on girls in Africa?

The school was told by her that she would use her degree from them to practice "counselling" in a way that they felt would harm the "counsellee" and tarnish their reputation

[beng]

Gay-ism, the new racism..... NOT!

[Joe]

Oh, so state schools are essentially gay-run colleges now? Actually, I already knew that. At least the psych departments.

If you are not a Rev. in the Episcopal Church, you ought to be. My former co-ecclesiastics would agree with your gay sympathies 100 percent.

[Sharon]

http://narth.com/

National Association For Research and Therapy of Homosexuality

Ben, you may wish to check out the above website.

I have heard Dr Nicolosi of NARTH speak on Catholic Answers and he said, that of the people with unwanted same sex attraction who contact him about one third don’t change, one third have some change and one third change completely and live a heterosexual life.

[Rev. James]

Joe,

I am not a Rev. or member of the American Episcopalian Church. Nothing I said was either supportive or dismissive of gay rights or conservative or liberal theology.

My comment was strictly from a legal perspective.

[Rev. James]

Sharon,

And how many killed themselves? Exodus Intl. and NARTH have astronomically high suicide rates when compared to more conventional therapeutic interventions with homosexuals that focus on acceptance as opposed to repression/change.

[Manwe]

So let me get this straight Rev., if your 'gay' and you don't act on it then you kill yourself? So instead encourage 'gays' to practice a proven unhealthy lifestyle. Funny thing, practicing (active) 'gays' have an abnormally high suiced rate themselves...

[Rev. James]

Homosexuals born to disapproving (often very religious)families have higher rates of suicide, depression, and substance abuse. Those born to loving supportive families have typical rates of all three of these psychological issues. There is no evidence that homosexuality in and of itself is a proximal or distal diathesis for mental/emotional distress.

Conversion therapy is demonstrated by all independent studies to be a damaging and ineffectual extension of the families disapproval and the subsequent internalized self-loathing it can often cause.

So no you didn't get it right, not at all. But you didn't want to did you? What you wanted to do was get it purposely wrong to misrepresent the facts to fit your prejudiced beliefs.

And I got that right.