...
... names which Rodney
Mancini, co-sponsor of the GSA, obtained from his minister, Rev. John Nieman of St.
Andrews Episcopal Church. [Mancini Dep., pp. 14-17.] According to Mancini, his minister
"is very gay friendly" and his input was sought because he would "add a positive
perspective" on homosexuality and religion. Id. at p. 138. Pennington explained the
purpose of having gay friendly religious leaders as presenters: "Messages of religious
disapproval are common on the radio and television and in print. This panel [was]
specifically designed to offer a more welcoming message." Id. at 91. The members of the
panel were selected "because the institutions they represent were welcoming and
affirming" with regard to homosexuality. Id. at 92; see also Mancini Dep. at 14-17. The
panel that was ultimately selected consisted of two Episcopalian ministers, a
Presbyterian
minister, a Presbyterian deacon, a rabbi, and a pastor from the United Church of Christ.
...
...the desire of some students in Pioneers for Christ (including
Betsy Hansen) to have their view presented at the religion and homosexuality panel as
they
had in previous years when it was focused more on sexual orientation than the
relationship
between sexuality and religion.
...
Despite the advocacy of her PFC advisors,
ultimately, it was decided that neither Betsy nor any representative who would express
Betsy�s religious view would be permitted to speak on the panel.
...
Panelists discussed the Bible and Sacred Scripture, explaining how passages
referring to homosexuality had been misunderstood or mistranslated by others to mean
that
homosexuality was immoral or sinful or incompatible with Christianity. [See McGarry
Dep., pp. 79-80; Hansen Dep., pp. 187-89.] One of the panelists suggested that students
read a book entitled, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, in order to get a
better
understanding of what Sacred Scripture meant, particularly with regard to homosexuality.
This case presents the ironic, and unfortunate, paradox of a public high school
celebrating "diversity" by refusing to permit the presentation to students of an
"unwelcomed" viewpoint on the topic of homosexuality and religion, while actively
promoting the competing view. This practice of "one-way diversity," unsettling in
itself, was rendered still more troubling -- both constitutionally and ethically -- by
the fact that the approved viewpoint was, in one manifestation, presented to students as
religious doctrine by six clerics (some in full garb) quoting from religious scripture.
In its other manifestation, it resulted in the censorship by school administrators of a
student�s speech about "what diversity means to me," removing that portion of the speech
in which the student described the unapproved viewpoint.
So the school replaced the traditional, more balanced, student panel on sexuality with
an all-adult, all-liberal, all-clerical panel on sexuality and religion which devoted
itself to promoting its view of the Bible and attacking that of other religious leaders
and certain students who were excluded from the panel.
The other item was the student speech censorship.
Prior to delivering her speech, Betsy was required to submit it to Korzdorfer to
review....
The
objectionable content was as follows:
On March 13, 2002, the Wednesday before the start of Diversity Week 2002,
Sunnie Korzdorfer offered Betsy Hansen an opportunity to give a two-minute speech at the
March 18 General Assembly. [See Hansen Dep., p. 109; Korzdorfer Dep., pp. 130-131.]
Ms. Korzdorfer testified that she chose Betsy as one of three students to make a speech
on
"what diversity means to me" as "an offer of good will," because she knew that Betsy was
upset about the Homosexuality and Religion panel. Id.16 Betsy accepted Korzdorfer�s
offer.
(Don't think too badly of Betsy on account of her spelling; the opinion earlier quotes
a memo in which the censor, Kotzendorfer, uses the spelling "leagal" for "legal".)
One thing I don�t like about Diversity Week is the way that racial diversity,
religious diversity, and sexual diversity are lumped together and compared as
if they are the same things. Race is not strictly an idea. It is something you
are born with; something that doesn�t change throughout your life, unless
your [sic] Michael Jackson, but that�s a special case. It involves no choice or
action. On the other hand, your religion is your choice. Sexuality implies an
action, and there are people who have been straight, then gay, then straight
again. I completely and whole-heartedly support racial diversity, but I can�t
accept religious and sexual ideas or actions that are wrong.
I always thought Ann Arbor would be a nice place to live, but could I send my children to the public schools there? Also, are the conservative students cowed? I went to Uni High in Urbana, Illinois, the university laboratory school there, and while we who were conservatives were outnumbered, we would have enjoyed making a ruckus over something like this. Or is Betsy just the mild side of the conservatives in the student body?
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