The right to discriminate against LGBT students: A "religious freedom" bill in Kentucky is one...
THURSDAY, MAR 16, 2017 06:59 PM EDT
The right to discriminate against LGBT students: A “religious freedom” bill in Kentucky is one signature away from becoming law
Asserting that Christians are “persecuted,” Republicans draft "the Charlie Brown bill" to protect their speech
NICO LANG
Kentucky schools may soon have a license to discriminate against LGBT students.
After the House passed it by a vote of 81 to 8 on Monday, a bill is sitting on Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin’s desk that could allow student-run organizations in colleges and kindergarten to grade 12 schools to deny membership to classmates based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Known as Senate Bill 17, the stated purpose of the legislation to prevent people of faith from having their political or religious opinions silenced in schools. Comparing it to the “religious liberty” bills introduced in states like Indiana and Georgia, advocates argue that it has the potential to promote anti-LGBT bigotry in the name of faith.
SB 17, which had already passed the Kentucky Senate last month, was introduced in response to an incident when Johnson County Schools cut a Bible verse from a production of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” During a pivotal scene Linus tells Charlie Brown, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Administrators at W.R. Castle Elementary School in Wittensville, Kentucky, were worried that overt references to Scripture could open the district up to a lawsuit.
Instead the school’s decision created a firestorm of controversy in the community after the news was picked up by right-wing news outlets in 2015. Parents stood up during the production to read the verses themselves.
The following year, legislation often referred to locally as the “Charlie Brown bill” was first was introduced to the General Assembly. In pushing the legislation, Kentucky state Senator Albert Robinson warned that action is necessary to prevent God-fearing Christians in the Bluegrass State from being discriminated against. During a discussion of the bill, he claimed that followers of Jesus Christ “have been persecuted.” About the controversy over the “Charlie Brown” play, Robinson added that Christians would have been “prosecuted if we didn’t keep our mouths shut.”
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http://www.salon.com/2017/03/16/the-right-to-discriminate-against-lgbt-students-a-religious-freedom-bill-in-kentucky-is-one-signature-away-from-becoming-law/
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