Lesbian teacher told to work from home

[Guest American Woman]

Irrelevent. If she'd outed herself as living with a man there still would have been complaints from parents. Extramarital sex is not acceptable for Catholic teachers. Clearly they do it anyway, but they have to keep it discrete. If you go publicly outing your "immoral" status then you should expect to be fired.

Of course it's not irrelevant. It's the reason for the complaints. Therefore it has everything to do with it. Parents didn't complain that she's having extramarital sex; they complained that she's a lesbian. Are you saying that it's "immoral" to be a lesbian?

[JerrySeinfeld]

My link

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

I don't approve of two lesbians having a baby. That kid is gonna end up f*cked up.

That said, althogh we should all have the freedom to send our kids to a school where they are not exposed to this kind of crap, I will concede that perhaps they should not get funding.

Although on the other side of the same coin, since when should lesbians have access to funding and Catholics excluded simply for their beliefs?

We all have beliefs. It's telling about where our society is headed when the Toronto Gay Pride Parade gets heaps of money but people want a Catholic girls school in Vancouver cut off.

[sharkman]

Actually, I think you will find that asking a potential employee about the sexual orientation is illegal in Canada.

No it is not in this case. If it were, officials would have descended on the school taking names and pulling out the cuffs. Maybe this will enlighten some:

However, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said that Little Flower Academy's decision about how to handle the situation with Reimer was not illegal and the school was justified in its course of action.

"As a matter of our constitution law protected by the Charter (of Rights and Freedoms), people have the right to associate in groups. That means that churches are protected and can define their membership," the association's President Robert Holmes told CTV News.

"She (Reimer) has a choice as well, and the choice is to not work there, not to associate with them," Holmes said.

Look, Islam, Hindu and most other religions teach that homosexuality is a sin. In Canada we protect these cultures as well. You can't just pick the Catholic culture, which happens to be a part of our own culture, and cut off funding. Actually you can't pick on them at all. It's in our constitution. Freedom of association.

We are a multi-cultural society and admit hundreds of thousands of immigrants per year. These people mostly come from cultures that think homosexuality is wrong. What are you going to do, make their beliefs a condition of entry? The government can't do that.

Look, the teacher in question actively applied to work for a Catholic school, an organization that teaches homosexuality is wrong. So she hid the fact that she is gay. Then, as a condition of her employment, she agreed to sign a Catholicity Clause, which says she would uphold the Catholic faith. This was the lie, saying on paper she would uphold the faith that teaches against homosexuality when she had a gay partner.

She deserves to be fired, the school has every right to fire her but they didn't. The school was actually more reasonable about this than some posters here.

[Argus]

Of course it's not irrelevant. It's the reason for the complaints. Therefore it has everything to do with it. Parents didn't complain that she's having extramarital sex; they complained that she's a lesbian. Are you saying that it's "immoral" to be a lesbian?

If you're a Catholic school teacher it's immoral to be having sex with anyone you're not married to. Period. End of story. All by itself that's enough to get you fired.

[Guest TrueMetis]

Look, Islam, Hindu and most other religions teach that homosexuality is a sin. In Canada we protect these cultures as well. You can't just pick the Catholic culture, which happens to be a part of our own culture, and cut off funding. Actually you can't pick on them at all. It's in our constitution. Freedom of association.

I'm going to ask this once who is just picking on Catholic's? Most of us would cut off funding for all religous schools. And freedom of association doesn't include the freedom to have it paid for by someone else.

[Guest American Woman]

If you're a Catholic school teacher it's immoral to be having sex with anyone you're not married to. Period. End of story. All by itself that's enough to get you fired.

Yet it's not about her having premarital sex; it's about her being a lesbian. Clearly that's been the reason given. Why you're in denial and trying to make it about something else is puzzling, to say the least.

[wyly]

I'm going to ask this once who is just picking on Catholic's? Most of us would cut off funding for all religous schools. And freedom of association doesn't include the freedom to have it paid for by someone else.

aye, most of us would...politicans however have their hands tied, it's political suicide to do it...

[sharkman]

I'm going to ask this once who is just picking on Catholic's? Most of us would cut off funding for all religous schools. And freedom of association doesn't include the freedom to have it paid for by someone else.

Most of the people who are critical of the Catholic school in this thread are only picking on Catholics(including you) and only started to include other cultures after it was pointed out to them that they are being hypocritical. Backpedalling in response to criticism doesn't qualify as a change of heart, you are only cya.

And an individual's feelings that we should jerk the funding of hundreds of groups based on the fact that a lesbian lied, hid her lifestyle and then tried to smear the school, is a knee jerk response in the highest order. Further, whether you want to personally pull funding or not, you can't. Instead look at the real picture in Canada and try to respond to the reality of the situation. These groups are protected by the constitution. Canada officially welcomes all kinds of cultures that view homosexuality as a defect of some sort.

[Guest TrueMetis]

Most of the people who are critical of the Catholic school in this thread are only picking on Catholics(including you) and only started to include other cultures after it was pointed out to them that they are being hypocritical. Backpedalling in response to criticism doesn't qualify as a change of heart, you are only cya.

Show me where I said we should only cut catholic's funding. I asked in the begining if we could cut their funding, because obviously this incident is specific to Catholic's, but I didn't say we should only cut their funding. But because I didn't say right from the begining that we should cut funding to all religous schools you've decided to infer that I'm only after the Catholic's. Jumping to conclusions again, nice job.

And an individual's feelings that we should jerk the funding of hundreds of groups based on the fact that a lesbian lied, hid her lifestyle and then tried to smear the school, is a knee jerk response in the highest order. Further, whether you want to personally pull funding or not, you can't. Instead look at the real picture in Canada and try to respond to the reality of the situation. These groups are protected by the constitution. Canada officially welcomes all kinds of cultures that view homosexuality as a defect of some sort.

The consitution says the government can't support one religion over another, it doesn't say we have to pay for thier schools.

Edited May 3, 2010 by TrueMetis

[CANADIEN]

Although on the other side of the same coin, since when should lesbians have access to funding and Catholics excluded simply for their beliefs?

We all have beliefs. It's telling about where our society is headed when the Toronto Gay Pride Parade gets heaps of money but people want a Catholic girls school in Vancouver cut off.

The Gay Parade is not a school and schools are not parades. Try to compare apples with apples, will you?

[CANADIEN]

Most of the people who are critical of the Catholic school in this thread are only picking on Catholics(including you) and only started to include other cultures after it was pointed out to them that they are being hypocritical. Backpedalling in response to criticism doesn't qualify as a change of heart, you are only cya.

We must be reading different threads here, because all those who have argued for no funding for religious schools have argued for no nfunding for ANY Ctholic schools. Fact is, the Catholic schools in Ontario are the only one with an iron clad constitutional protection. Feel free to twist what people have said whatever way you want, it will not work because the fact of what have been said here speaks for it self.

Speaking of hypocrisy, I am sure that the stance in favour of religious schools will extend to muslim schools, right?

Instead look at the real picture in Canada and try to respond to the reality of the situation. These groups are protected by the constitution.

The reality of the situation is that only Catholic schools in Ontario have their funding mandated by the Constitution. And that most Ontarians do not want government funding for any religious school, prefereing one publicly funded system. And that the Constitution can, and should, be changed.

Canada officially welcomes all kinds of cultures that view homosexuality as a defect of some sort.

And where is that written? Is that official policy? Or is it rather the knee-jerk reaction of someone who is scared of gays and lesbians?

BTW, you realize of course that if homosexuality is a defect, then it is not a matter of choice

[CANADIEN]

The consitution says the government can't support one religon over another, it doesn't say we have to pay for thier schools.

It says we have to pay for Cathloci schools in Ontario.

Edited May 3, 2010 by CANADIEN

[sharkman]

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...

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...

Canadian, on your point of me reading a different thread than you perhaps you should consider these quotes from this very thread given on page one. Also, truemetis admitted her first response was catholic only in her latest post.

Also, I have referenced 2 previous times the protected right in the Canadian constitution(not the ontario one) called freedom of association, which allows groups to define their membership. Do you think our constitution is wrong here?

Further I have been defending Islam schools(which are the same thing as muslim schools or at least what my intent was) in previous posts. Perhaps you could read these posts and reconsider your charge of hypocrisy.

[Guest TrueMetis]

It says we have to pay for Catholic schools in Ontario.

I would like to see that changed.

Canadian, on your point of me reading a different thread than you perhaps you should consider these quotes from this very thread given on page one. Also, truemetis admitted her first response was catholic only in her latest post.

I think you are reading a different thread, it clearly says male under my name. Yes I was talking about Catholic's specifically in my OP that does not mean Catholic's only. Why would have have to talk about all religions when the story only speaks about Catholics? If a story was about something a religous leader had done that I was against would I also have to mention the other religous leaders I don't like?

Also, I have referenced 2 previous times the protected right in the Canadian constitution(not the ontario one) called freedom of association, which allows groups to define their membership. Do you think our constitution is wrong here?

Where does in say that freedom of association means you have the right to public funds? I'm not saying that they shouldn't be allowed their schools I'm saying they shouldn't be allowed public funds.

Edited May 3, 2010 by TrueMetis

[CANADIEN]

Canadian, on your point of me reading a different thread than you perhaps you should consider these quotes from this very thread given on page one. Also, truemetis admitted her first response was catholic only in her latest post.

Copying posts out of context is easy. Doesn't prove your claim of hypocrisy.

Further I have been defending Islam schools(which are the same thing as muslim schools or at least what my intent was) in previous posts. Perhaps you could read these posts and reconsider your charge of hypocrisy.

Did you get the impression I was targetting you? Because if I had, I would have mentioned you by name. Was merely pointing out that the true hypocrisy is that of those who scream "freedom or religion" but change their tone whrn they hear the word Muslim. Good for you that you're not one of those.

[CANADIEN]

Also, I have referenced 2 previous times the protected right in the Canadian constitution(not the ontario one) called freedom of association, which allows groups to define their membership. Do you think our constitution is wrong here?

The issue is not freedom of association, it is the funding of schools other than those in the public system (and I would say not only the religious school, but any school).

[sharkman]

Copying posts out of context is easy. Doesn't prove your claim of hypocrisy.

Did you get the impression I was targetting you? Because if I had, I would have mentioned you by name. Was merely pointing out that the true hypocrisy is that of those who scream "freedom or religion" but change their tone whrn they hear the word Muslim. Good for you that you're not one of those.

Well since my you were countering my post point for point, and my name was there as the poster being quoted, you appeared to be 'targetting' me. Now you 'appear' to be back pedaling.

I did not copy the posts out of context. Go back to page one and see for yourself. And again, truemetis admitted he called for catholic only funding cuts at first.

[CANADIEN]

Well since my you were countering my post point for point, and my name was there as the poster being quoted, you appeared to be 'targetting' me. Now you 'appear' to be back pedaling.

Yawn.

I did not copy the posts out of context. Go back to page one and see for yourself. And again, truemetis admitted he called for catholic only funding cuts at first.

True <eti's intent was clear from the start, and it was to use the case of one Catholic school to oppose funding for any religious school. Your copying and pasting parts of postings that you can usesupport your attempt at making it otherwise, removing them from their context, will not change what was ACTUALLY said and meant.

[sharkman]

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?

Nothing is taken out of context, this is the entire post, and it's clear to anyone with an open mind that truemetis wants funding cut for Catholic schools if this case is true, and no other schools were mentioned until much later on. If you can't see the plain facts then I will leave you to split hairs with someone else.

Maybe you need a nap, I noticed you were yawning.

[Guest TrueMetis]

Nothing is taken out of context, this is the entire post, and it's clear to anyone with an open mind that truemetis wants funding cut for Catholic schools if this case is true, and no other schools were mentioned until much later on. If you can't see the plain facts then I will leave you to split hairs with someone else.

Maybe you need a nap, I noticed you were yawning.

What I have to mention ever single group I want to have funding cut for by name? I'm going to try to make this perfectly clear.

This specific incident is about Catholic's so I'm going to mention Catholics specifically but that's a far cry from mentioning them exclusively. Just because I was only talking about one group doesn't mean I think all other groups should get a free pass. This isn't just about context this is also about you being an ignorant ass.

[CANADIEN]

Maybe you need a nap, I noticed you were yawning.

The only reason I was yawning is that the "you were responding to a posting of mine therefore you must have been talking about me" bit is, quite frankly,boring.

So is your attempt at turning what TrueMetis and others have said and clearly meant into something else. Poor substitute of lack of argument.

[Mr.Canada]

Catholic schools are protected in some old documents, that will never change so get used to it. Some of the same old documents that the Native Indian non Canadians like to use. Natives being non Canadians and non tax payers they should have no say at all at what Canada does since they don't pay taxes and aren't Canadians. This doesn't stop them from taking billions of dollars each year though...what are these non Canadian non tax payers giving back to Canada exactly?

Catholics used to have to pay for their own education each year in order to go to Catholic schools. The Catholic system is much better then the public one by far. Better teachers, students get better grades and the structure is superior.

[sharkman]

Just because I was only talking about one group doesn't mean I think all other groups should get a free pass. This isn't just about context this is also about you being an ignorant ass.

Ignorant ass? Who even talks like that? Where are you from?

Edited May 3, 2010 by sharkman

[sharkman]

Catholic schools are protected in some old documents, that will never change so get used to it. Some of the same old documents that the Native Indian non Canadians like to use. Natives being non Canadians and non tax payers they should have no say at all at what Canada does since they don't pay taxes and aren't Canadians. This doesn't stop them from taking billions of dollars each year though...what are these non Canadian non tax payers giving back to Canada exactly?

Catholics used to have to pay for their own education each year in order to go to Catholic schools. The Catholic system is much better then the public one by far. Better teachers, students get better grades and the structure is superior.

Then you have the bullying issue. Much less of it for children to face in the private schools. Kids being what they are, I can remember kids wearing turbans being given a hard time in the public system. That is simply not fair. Then too, the teachers are given more authority to deal with situations that may arise.

They also do the job of teaching these students for less than it would cost in the public system. The kids have to be taught somewhere, and by carrying out the government service of teaching these students from k to grade 12, a significant savings is made over them being in the public system.

[ToadBrother]

Catholic schools are protected in some old documents, that will never change so get used to it. Some of the same old documents that the Native Indian non Canadians like to use. Natives being non Canadians and non tax payers they should have no say at all at what Canada does since they don't pay taxes and aren't Canadians. This doesn't stop them from taking billions of dollars each year though...what are these non Canadian non tax payers giving back to Canada exactly?

Apart from your obvious bigotry, where exactly did you ever get the idea that native peoples are not Canadians?