Should Catholic university allow gay student group?

[kweerwolf]

Seven months after a Duquesne University sophomore said he was rebuffed in efforts to form a gay student organization on the Catholic campus, the institution's president is asking a special panel to study the idea.

A committee of administrators, faculty, students and members of Duquesne's founding religious order is weighing the impact of a group that, while not unprecedented at a Catholic university, poses uncomfortable issues nevertheless. The church's position is clearly against homosexual sex, but the church also teaches that gay people, like all individuals, must be treated with respect, campus officials said.

"This is an issue that is potentially polarizing, and that's why it's important for us to be deliberative about it," Duquesne President Charles Dougherty said in an interview.

In the weeks after Matthew Pratter said his attempt to form a gay/straight student alliance had been turned down by campus authorities he would not identify, about 120 faculty and staff signed petitions urging the administration to reconsider. But Duquesne leaders insisted as those petitions circulated in April that they could not have evaluated the idea, much less rejected it, because neither Pratter nor anyone else had formally proposed such a group.

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=GAYSTUDENTS-10-20-05

[rpannier]

1. If they take federal or state money yes they should

If they don't take federal or state money -- then they should be able to do whatever they want.

I will applaud Duquesne for at least being willing to talk about it rather than taking the knee-jerk reaction of just saying "No" outright.

[mduffy31]

4. I would agree with you

If they are not taking federal money, excluding student loans, they should be able to do what they want. I am a nurse at a Catholic Hospital, and because of their beliefs they will not do abortions, vasectomies, and rarely do tubal ligations. Now these procedures are available at other facilities so you can go elsewhere. But as you said it is good that they are willing to talk, and discuss these issues, but given the recent edict from Rome regarding Catholicism, I would have to say it is probably a tough sell.

[TaleWgnDg]

9. Legally, a Roman Catholic university or college may . . .

Legally, a Roman Catholic university or college may . . . discriminate against gays. That is, whether or not that institution receives federal monies. Why is that so? Because there is no express constitutional (or federal law) protection for gays against discrimination. PERIOD.

Oooops, homosexuals were added to the so-called "anti-hate crimes" federal law. Which is a huge issue since it covers physical attacks against gays due to their sexual orientation; however, that has nothing to do with on campus denial of rights due to sexual orientation.

Here's an example as to how far the feds have taken this no-protection-crap: there's a federal law that expressly allows military recruitment on college campuses despite military discrimination against homosexuals. If college and universities fail to allow this on campus military recruitment then that college or university no longer receives federal monies . . . all federal monies, across their entire institution including non-related campuses in the same educational institution. This law is being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court during this term. The federal law is the "Solomon Amendment." The case is Rumsfeld et al. v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc., et al., SCOTUS #04-1152.

So, the bottom line here is that this Roman Catholic college may decide not to allow homosexuals a forum. I wonder . . . will Rome get into this too? It's been sticking its neck into a lot of Catholic issues in the States as of late . . .
.

[afdip]

2. do as i say, not as i do . . . . is anyone out there stunned

by the duplicity of the catholic church?

[itcfish]

3. If I Remember Correctly

Sacred Heart Academy in Connecticut had Gay Student Groups. But I did go and see the school awhile back, I could be wrong

[kevinbgoode]

5. And does this sorry-butt President think that

a student gay organization is about sex? He needs a major wake-up. . .and perhaps needs to look at the church's position about other sinful behavior that most assuredly occurs on campus with university sanction. . .like co-ed visits, college dances, frat/sorority mixers.

[davidinalameda]

6. do they allow non-Catholic religious groups to exist

because we all know that non-Catholics are all going to burn in hell

[bluedawg12]

7. Getting them to go against their own policy?

Why bother?

Another lost cause.

[RedXIII]

8. well it seems that they are still stuck in the dark ages...

because that's similar to the jim crow laws of the 50's and 60's where blacks were separate from whites,and it still happens today except it's different straights separate from gays.And i read that during the inquisition that the church oppressed Jews,Muslims,Gays,lutherans,and virtually anyone who did not uphold church dogma.

[bluedawg12]

10. RedXIII- the Jim Crow laws were man made

the RCC claims divine guidance and are above societal laws.

My point about why bother- there are so many societal battles to be fought and civic laws to be changed, or added, and societal mores to be changed that this is a battle that is hopeless at the moment with the RW of the church in power.

Plus, timing is wrong because the RCC is smearing gays in an effort to divert from their own scandals and many people actually believe that gays are to blame for their pedophile mess, so they can't show tolerance to gays just now.

The RCC and the repugs and fundys are beyond salvage for another generation, IMHO.