Jill Filipovic: Stop Supporting Bigoted Institutions

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:

Jill Filipovic
@JillFilipovic
·
Follow
An argument against our widespread acceptance of gender discrimination, so long as that discrimination is justified by religion:

jill.substack.com
Stop Supporting Bigoted Institutions
Religion shouldn't be an excuse for sex discrimination.
1:33 PM · Jul 29, 2022

https://jill.substack.com/p/stop-supporting-bigoted-institutions

Seattle Pacific University is currently under investigation by the Washington State Attorney General for discriminatory hiring practices, because the university refuses to hire gay faculty and staff. The lawyers for Seattle Pacific claim that separation of church and state allows them to operate as they please; anti-LGBT discrimination is their right and it’s none of the state’s business.

And that’s fair enough, to some extent. If private religious institutions want to discriminate in their private practice of their religion, they should be able to — but they should not receive any federal or state benefits. To the extent that these institutions are engaged in a practice that is primarily not religious but secular and serving the general public — say, educating college students or running a nursing home or providing health care — they should have to abide by the same laws as any other institution providing those same services. And if Seattle Pacific or any other religious entity doesn’t want to abide by Washington State’s anti-discrimination law, or by federal anti-discrimination laws, then they should at the very least not be permitted to avail themselves of federal tax exemptions and federal benefits programs, including federal student loan funds to pay student tuition.

This goes far beyond a single university. Over and over again, institutions that flat-out discriminate are still handed generous benefits, funded by the state, and even supported, funded, and attended by self-identified progressives.

This is particularly true when the locus of the discrimination is gender-based, and when the institution is religious. We seem to have simply collectively decided that it’s ok for religious institutions to discriminate against women or LGBT people in a way we would never accept — and should never accept — if that discrimination came in other forms.

*snip*

[Novara]

1. Damn right

[Funtatlaguy]

2. And, I would add, bigoted political parties & candidates.

[duckworth969]

3. Well said