Lesbian teacher told to work from home

[Guest TrueMetis]

A teacher at a Catholic high school for girls in Vancouver was told to work from home after parents complained about having a lesbian teach their kids, a gay rights group says.

Earlier this week, Vancouver's Little Flower Academy told Lisa Reimer, a music teacher, to work from home for the rest of her contract, which expires in June, the Pride Education Network said Wednesday.

The advocacy group alleges that the private school sent Reimer home because she is a lesbian parent.

My link

If this is true can we go ahead and cut their funding?

[wyly]

My link

If this is true can we go ahead and cut their funding?

I would say yes....but then I recall years ago in Sask a single woman working in the office of a Catholic High School was fired for being pregnant, and they got away with that...

[kimmy]

How is a teacher supposed to "work from home"?

Sounds like code for "we wish we could fire you, but we'd get our asses kicked in court if we did that."

-k

[Wild Bill]

I would say yes....but then I recall years ago in Sask a single woman working in the office of a Catholic High School was fired for being pregnant, and they got away with that...

Hey, they've gotten away with receiving government money while discriminating against hiring non-Catholic teachers for generations!

Why shouldn't they get away with this one?

It will all boil down to politics. If the governments involved are afraid of pushing the issue against the Catholic Church then it will just fade away...

[AngusThermopyle]

I find something a little strange about this incident. Apparently this teacher was hired to replace another teacher on a short term basis because the other teacher was on maternity leave. Does it not appear strange that she would then ask for the same leave for essentially the same reason?

Perhaps there is more to this than meets the eye upon first perusal. Just a thought.

[Michael Hardner]

Freedom of religion means freedom to discriminate in hiring, period.

This has been going on for years, and changing it will have a lot of negative ramifications for freedom in Canada.

[Smallc]

Freedom of religion means freedom to discriminate in hiring, period.

Except, that conflict with other parts of the same Charter in such a case. It's then up to the court to decide which side wins out in each case.

[wyly]

Hey, they've gotten away with receiving government money while discriminating against hiring non-Catholic teachers for generations!

Why shouldn't they get away with this one?

It will all boil down to politics. If the governments involved are afraid of pushing the issue against the Catholic Church then it will just fade away...

yup, add up the voting numbers of catholics and no government would have the balls to take this on, they prefer to let the courts make the decision...

[Machjo]

You're worried about one little private Catholic school? In Ontario, publicly funded Catholic schools abound, and even have their own administrative structure within the government. And yes, you've guessed it! They can discriminate, legally! on the basis of religion. And then they have the audacity to claim that this is defended in the Canadian Constitution... and, sadly to say, depending on how you define the related sections of the constitution, they may have a point.

Canada does not have any 'official' state religion per se, but the Catholic Faith is granted certain specific Constitutional privileges, thus essentially making Canada have if not an official state religion, then a de-facto state religion.

[Wild Bill]

You're worried about one little private Catholic school? In Ontario, publicly funded Catholic schools abound, and even have their own administrative structure within the government. And yes, you've guessed it! They can discriminate, legally! on the basis of religion. And then they have the audacity to claim that this is defended in the Canadian Constitution... and, sadly to say, depending on how you define the related sections of the constitution, they may have a point.

Canada does not have any 'official' state religion per se, but the Catholic Faith is granted certain specific Constitutional privileges, thus essentially making Canada have if not an official state religion, then a de-facto state religion.

I agree, it's an odd contradiction. I once had a discussion with a local bishop about funding for Catholic schools, just a few years after Bill Davis had made that change. He gave me the standard line about how it was guaranteed in the British North America Act.

So I went and read the BNA Act for myself! I saw clearly that the Catholics were granted freedom to practice their religion and have their own schools but I saw nothing about any guarantees to pay for them! In fact, in those days I'm not certain if the government paid much if anything for PUBLIC schools! That was so long ago that funding could have been a community thing.

I spoke again with that Bishop and told him how I could only find guarantees of freedom to have schools, not to have them funded. He seemed a bit rattled that someone would actually have read the Act for themselves and then told me that freedom meant the SAME THING as funding!

Sounded rather revisionist to me but I admit I'm no constitutional scholar. Perhaps someone else could confirm if the good Bishop was right. Myself, I can only go by my own reading comprehension.

[Michael Hardner]

Canada does not have any 'official' state religion per se, but the Catholic Faith is granted certain specific Constitutional privileges, thus essentially making Canada have if not an official state religion, then a de-facto state religion.

Any private religious school would also have these privileges.

[Wild Bill]

Any private religious school would also have these privileges.

How about a school in Bountiful, British Columbia?

[Michael Hardner]

How about a school in Bountiful, British Columbia?

I could enroll for 'adult education' there, I suppose. Then, I would quickly max out on wives before handing in my term paper.

[Handsome Rob]

What a delicious South Park episode it would make.

Her charter guaranteed freedom from discrimination is taken away by the charter guaranteed freedom to discriminate.

[Oleg Bach]

LESBIANS and gays are just plain dumb and lazy...do your duty..be a human and stop listening to the social engineers that want to weaken you ...hedonistic homo behaviour is a choice...I don't want to hear about " I just can't help it."

[bloodyminded]

LESBIANS and gays are just plain dumb and lazy...do your duty..be a human and stop listening to the social engineers that want to weaken you ...hedonistic homo behaviour is a choice...I don't want to hear about " I just can't help it."

They just can't help it.

(And why should they, anyway?)

[Michael Hardner]

LESBIANS and gays are just plain dumb and lazy...do your duty..be a human and stop listening to the social engineers that want to weaken you ...hedonistic homo behaviour is a choice...I don't want to hear about " I just can't help it."

This is incorrect. Furthermore - how much of a choice is heterosexuality for you and why did you decide against gayness ?

[Oleg Bach]

This is incorrect. Furthermore - how much of a choice is heterosexuality for you and why did you decide against gayness ?

Good question...why? Because I understand the phenomena...Pleasure and the endorphines secreted within the human brain can be stimulated by a various arrangement of sexual manipulations..also - as a kid I saw a couple of my friends who were straight to begin with, manipulated into the pleasures of gay sex..as for me I simply figured out as a kid that older gay men were jerks and users..dominators and honourless ass holes...AS for the human decison..I guess I always choose what is superiour and good..and hetro is above the non-breeders and users.

[Oleg Bach]

Also the the flowing lines of a womans body are more beautiful than some freak starving himself to death trying to look like a girl.

[bloodyminded]

Good question...why? Because I understand the phenomena...Pleasure and the endorphines secreted within the human brain can be stimulated by a various arrangement of sexual manipulations..also - as a kid I saw a couple of my friends who were straight to begin with, manipulated into the pleasures of gay sex..as for me I simply figured out as a kid that older gay men were jerks and users..dominators and honourless ass holes...AS for the human decison..I guess I always choose what is superiour and good..and hetro is above the non-breeders and users.

You "figured it out," huh? It had nothing to do with bigotry.

[Oleg Bach]

They just can't help it.

(And why should they, anyway?)

Well why should we encourage young people to spend their life with a dick in their mouth or up the butt? AS I have always said let nature take it's course and stop perpetuating sexual interference as a social policy. Why do we have more gays now than we did thirty years ago? It is not that they have more freedom to be themselves..it is probably because we encourage rather than discourage.

[bloodyminded]

Well why should we encourage young people to spend their life with a dick in their mouth or up the butt?

So, by "young people" you mean males, exclusively.

AS I have always said let nature take it's course and stop perpetuating sexual interference as a social policy.

Exactly what gay rights advocates are proposing.

Why do we have more gays now than we did thirty years ago? It is not that they have more freedom to be themselves..it is probably because we encourage rather than discourage.

It's because they don't as often feel the need to hide their preferences.

[Michael Hardner]

Good question...why?

How difficult a decision was it for you ? Do you think the fact that you are attracted to the same gender may have an impact on your opinions on this topic.

[Oleg Bach]

CONTINUED:

If you notice, I am passionate about this subject..to put it in plain English...I really HATE...social engineering in any fashion!....mantras like "healing" ...really irritate me. RIGHT to the point..as an old Orthodox Christian that understands that the original movement was a total seperation of church and state..and that the individual was paramount. Church and state have always been one...personally - I say F the state and have personal sovereignty ...homo sexuality...turns you into a drone.

[Oleg Bach]

How difficult a decision was it for you ? Do you think the fact that you are attracted to the same gender may have an impact on your opinions on this topic.

I am attracted to every thing that is beautiful..male, female...trees..water...the smiling eyes of a child...good music..etc..nothing wrong with being pleased with beauty..but it does not mean that I want to f+++k it. Homo sexuality or hetrosexuality, driven by the need to possess what is beautiful...does not serve the the victim of selfishness...Lesbians are very similar to hetro men...they want what we want..To have something that is beautiful and to possess it....