Bill Donohue comments on revisions in a bill that did not bode well for religious colleges in California:
California State Senator Ricardo Lara has deleted the most controversial part of his bill, SB 1146, that would have essentially gutted the heart and soul of religious colleges and universities.
The bill, as first introduced, would have denied important exemptions to such schools that have long been honored by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The revised bill insulates these religious institutions from lawsuits that challenge their teachings on sexual ethics.
Kudos to Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, Bishop Charles Blake of the Church of God in Christ, and the many activist organizations that protested the bill and pushed for the revisions. We were happy to add our voice to this effort.
No one wants to see any students denied basic civil liberties, but when cross-dressing men claim victim status for not being allowed to shower with women—in a college that respects the biological distinctions provided by nature and nature’s God—then such appeals must be rejected. To do otherwise is to counsel state control of religious entities, as well as to indulge in a political fiction.
Sen. Lara is still seeking to make religious colleges comply with a provision that would notify a state agency each time a student is expelled for violating the school’s moral code of conduct. This is classic state overreach and a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. As such, it should be eliminated.
There is a huge difference between advancing human rights and using the club of discrimination to force religious institutions to abandon their autonomy. Separation of church and state is not being disrespected by the faithful, but it is being trampled upon by militant secularists.
