Many of you may remember my first discussion of the Tennessee state “Don’t Say Gay” Bill or the follow up to it.  Well, one Tennessee school has taken it a step farther.  But the situation isn’t quite as clear-cut as you might think.  Rossville Christian Academy added an anti-gay clause to its school policies.  

“Homosexuality is forbidden in scripture (Romans 1:27, Leviticus 18:22). A staff member or student who promotes, engages in, or identifies himself/​herself with such activity through any word or action shall be in violation of this policy. Should the administration determine a violation of this policy, the person involved will be subject to disciplinary action with the possibility of permanent dismissal. Any applicant who is not in compliance with this policy will not be admitted.”

The first hitch is that Tennessee has no state laws banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. But even if it did, because this is a private school and not a tax-funded public one, they could likely still get away with it.  Add to the fact that it is a religiously based school and there really isn’t a whole lot that can be done.  

Now, there’s a big part of me that, although I disagree with this particular rule, still believes that because it is a private and religious school, they can make their own rules and suffer no legal repercussions.  Because I don’t want religion in politics and laws, I can’t in good conscience think it would be ok to have law and politics in religion.  Simple enough. 

But is it the right thing to do?  It’s easy to say “Well, if you’re LGBT or ally, don’t go to school there.”  But did you always agree with everything your parents thought growing up?  Of course not.  What about that gay student growing up in an environment where he/she feels the need to hide who they are?  What if their parents force them to go this school in hopes of somehow changing their orientation?  All of these pressures now exacerbated thanks to school administration. 

But my real gripe with this is that the school is placing emphasis on a particular aspect of the Bible over all others.  The Bible states in James 2:10 “For whosoevershall keep the whole law, and yet offend offen in one pont, he is guilty of all.”  So why would anyone professing to follow the Bible do something that contradicts the Bible?  If homosexuality is a sin, a point to which I don’t concede, why is it any different than lying, stealing, or adultery?  It just doesn’t make sense.  

And to make all this even worse, one parent flat out said that they feel this rule is targeting one specific student in the approximate 300 person student body.  That just doesn’t seem very Christian to me.  

By all means, people are more than welcome to their opinions and beliefs, but I don’t think that enforcing extraneous rules on children is the way to go.  Faculty?  Sure.  While I don’t agree with it, Tennessee is a “‘At Will’ Employment” state and a company or organization can legally say that they don’t want to a hire a person because of sexual orientation or gender identity and having a different set of criteria for staff vs. students is acceptable.  But this just goes too far.