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TWU is only for PLU...

2/24/2014

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TWU is only for PLU...people like us.


Trinity Western University is a Christian-based university in Langley, B.C.

It has stirred a storm of controversy with its proposal to launch a law school.


Why? Because its faculty, staff and students have to sign a contract agreeing not to have sex except if they are in a heterosexual marriage.


Sounds discriminatory?  Absolutely.  Straight people can have sex, as long as they are married; queers cannot have sex, even if they are married.


Queers are not the only target.  


Prospective students must also agree to respect life "from conception to death"; not drink, do drugs, or smoke cigarettes on campus; and to chose only entertainment which is in accordance with biblical priorities.


Leaving aside for a moment the interesting question of how TWU would enforce such  rules, the question is: Can they do that??? In a law school???


The answer, so far, is yes.


The Federation of Law Societies, the national certification body, has approved the TWU application to host a law school despite its discrimination against queers.

The school relies on freedom of religion as a defence.

Some people think that no one should ever be allowed to rely on 'freedom of religion'.  In Quebec, the bill currently before the provincial legislature goes further and says that people in public service cannot wear religious items.  I vigorously disagree with the Quebec approach, which I think is code for discriminating against (in particular) Muslim women.  

But I equally vigorously disagree that an educational institution which is teaching prospective lawyers about the rule of law, including the constitutional requirement of freedom from discrimination, should be able to discriminate against students who want to study there.

The Globe and Mail also disagrees.  Read their editorial on the subject.

The fight is not over.  Despite the approval by the Federation of Law Societies, several province's law societies are considering how to deal with the issue, B.C. among them.


What do you think?  

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Homophobia Kills - Literally

2/23/2014

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An ingenious new study shows that if lesbians, gay men and bisexual people live in homophobic communities their health suffers and their life is shortened, compared to lesbians and gay men who live in accepting communities. 
Using national U.S. data about attitudes to homosexuality, Mark Hatzenbuehler, lead author of the study, developed community profiles of homophobia. Then they compared rates of suicide, homicide, and death from other causes by community, with data from 1998 to 2008.

Hatzenbuehler explained that the authors were able to examine whether mortality risk differed for LGB individuals who lived in communities that were characterized by high versus low levels of prejudice. By the end of the study, 92% of LGB respondents living in low-prejudice communities were still alive; in contrast, only 78% of the LGB respondents living in high-prejudice communities were still alive.

The authors also found that suicide, homicide/violence, and cardiovascular diseases were all substantially elevated among sexual minorities in high-prejudice communities. LGB respondents living in high-prejudice communities died of suicide on average at age 37.5, compared to age 55.7 for those living in low-prejudice communities, a striking 18-year difference. Homicide and violence-related deaths are one of the most direct links between hostile community attitudes and death, and results indicated that homicide rates were over three times more likely to occur in high-prejudice communities than in low-prejudice communities.

Of the deaths in high-prejudice communities, 25% were due to cardiovascular disease, compared to 18.6% of deaths in the low-prejudice communities. "Psychosocial stressors are strongly linked to cardiovascular risk, and this kind of stress may represent an indirect pathway through which prejudice contributes to mortality. Discrimination, prejudice, and social marginalization create several unique demands on stigmatized individuals that are stress-inducing," said Dr. Hatzenbuehler.





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The Pace of Change in the U.S. of A.

2/21/2014

1 Comment

 
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Change is speeding up in the U.S.
Same sex marriage is now legal in 17 states and the District of Washington.  SEVENTEEN STATES!
The homophobic opposition is now trying a new strategy, of legislating protection for anyone who, on the basis of their religion, discriminates against queers.  Freedom of religion trumping the right to equality and freedom from discrimination.
But this week, lawmakers in Idaho, Kansas, South Dakota and Tennessee either voted down, blocked, or backtracked those legalizing-discrimination laws in their states.  
Canada is wrestling with this problem in the form of approval for a law school at Trinity Western University. TWU requires its faculty staff and students to sign a pledge which, among other things, requires students to refrain from sex except in a (you guessed it) heterosexual marriage, effectively making homophobia a foundational principal of the law school.  The question is whether such a law school should be entitled to operate.

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Protect Trans People: Sign letter to Senate

2/18/2014

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Bill 279, the law that will protect transgender people from discrimination, by adding 'gender identity' both under the Canadian Human Rights Act and the hate crime provisions of the Criminal Code.  To add your support to the Bill in the Senate, please read the attached material from Amnesty International (Canada) and WRITE A LETTER!
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Thank Heaven We're Not In Kansas, Toto!

2/13/2014

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A judge in Kansas has confirmed a ruling that a man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple at their request, is required to pay child support.
The state took the man to court for child support when one of the moms made an application for welfare benefits.  The court said that a donor could not escape child support liability by 'declaring' he was just a donor.  Only if the insemination is carried out in a doctor's office can he avoid financial liability.
In B.C., the Family Law Act specifically states that a man who donates sperm is NOT a 'father' for purposes of child support or access to a child, unless he donates sperm to make his own baby - for example in some kinds of infertility treatments.
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Family Day: The More Parents the Merrier, in BC

2/12/2014

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In the news today is the story of the first three-parent family in B.C..
The three parents - two lesbians and the man who donated sperm for the conception of their child - agreed that all three of them would be parents.  So the child's birth certificate records three legal parents.
How does that work?


Under the new (March 2013) Family Law Act, the parent(s) who intend to raise the child can include the donor, or the surrogate mother, or perhaps other people, on their child's birth certificate, provided that the donor or the surrogate has made an agreement with the parents who intend to raise the child.  The three parents do not have to live together.  


A child has rights of child maintenance, and of inheritance, from all their parents.


Note that a donor of sperm is NOT automatically a parent.  The law is explicit about that.


So this is a question of choice.


There is a catch, though.  To be eligible to register more than two parents, the additional parent(s) must have a written agreement with the child's parents MADE BEFORE THE CHILD IS CONCEIVED.


What if you have a pregnancy in progress, and decide after the pregnancy has begun that you want the donor, or the surrogate mother, to be a legal parent?


In that case, the law provides that you can make an application to court to have the third parent added to the birth certificate.  Since there have not been any applications of this kind in BC yet, it is hard to predict what factors a court will take into account, but a court must make the best interests of the child its only consideration.


You can read more about the provisions of the Family Law Act in our booklet "Choosing Children".

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