The Gender, Sexuality, and Race Room
Teacher Fired for Being Gay
That's all. She didn't beat up a kid, didn't do drugs, didn't rape anyone, she just admitted to being gay.
This, my friends, is why we need federal protection under the Civil Rights Act for gays. And if a so-called Christian institution fails to acknowledge their rights, it should lose any and all federal funding.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opin...474-story.html
Monica Lisciandro was fired from her job teaching theater at Covenant Christian School in Brevard County after the school last year learned she was gay. That's legal in Florida. The school received more than $900,000 in voucher money from the state of Florida last year. (Orlando Sentinel)
For two years, administrators at Covenant Christian School in Brevard County were happy to have Monica Toro Lisciandro as a teacher.
Until they learned she was gay.
That’s when the school — which received more than $900,000 in public money last year through the state’s voucher program — decided she was no longer fit to teach.At first, Toro Lisciandro wasn’t sure she understood what was happening.
She was preparing to teach her musical-theater class last month when she was summoned to the administrator’s office and told of “allegations” against her.
Her mind whirred. Allegations? What allegations?
Someone had reported she was gay.
“Yes, it’s true,” she responded. “I do have a girlfriend.”
Then she was told she could no longer work at the school.
The school would later release a statement saying “all employees must agree to and model our position on human sexuality, which is based on the biblical teaching that asks all Christ-followers to abstain from any sexual activities outside of one-man, one-woman marriage.”
At first, Toro Lisciandro was overcome with an emotion she hadn’t felt since the days when she was closeted … shame.
“For a second, all that shame — all that stuff — came back to me,” she said.
She had classes full of middle and high school students she loved. She knew the students liked her. Yet she was being told she was no longer worthy of being around them.
Toro Lisciandro said no one had ever mentioned the school’s anti-gay policy before. She hadn’t hid her sexual orientation. Heck, she’d been involved in Pride events and hosted LGBT events at her acting studio in Viera. But none of that was part of the classes she taught at the school three days a week.
Toro Lisciandro was shocked and depressed … until students started reaching out to say they missed her and thought she’d gotten a raw deal.
I think the kids got a raw deal, too.
They were robbed of their teacher and given a firsthand look at institutional discrimination.
It’s all completely legal in Florida.
While many public districts, such as Orange, have policies that ban discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and more, Florida has no law banning discrimination against LGBT employees in general.
And whereas public schools must accept all students, schools in the state’s publicly funded voucher program can refuse to serve LGBT families — even if they get money from the state’s corporate tax credit “scholarship” program.
Many voucher schools actually spell out their discriminatory policies.
At Merritt Island Christian School, homosexuality is the only expulsion-worthy sin for students listed in its “ethics” policy.
At Volusia’s Trinity Christian Academy, students are told that simply saying “I am gay” is “basis for dismissal.”
Those two schools got more than $1.7 million in public money last year.
Of course, many churches, including those with schools, welcome all. Mine sure does.Most schools with anti-gay policies claim their discrimination is rooted in their Christians values.
It’s the same thing segregationists used to say
In one infamous case, a Virginia judge ruled in 1965 that blacks and whites couldn’t marry each other because “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents … The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”
In Covenant Christian’s case, Head of School Lorne Wenzel said married, heterosexual sex was the only kind God allows (which presumes he inquires about and fires any single teachers who mess around as well).
Still, Wenzel said in his statement the school also believes “every person is created by God and has inherent value and worth” and that “We uphold and affirm this inherent worth of every person.”
Toro Lisciandro took issue with that:
“To say that you ‘uphold and affirm the inherent worth of every person’ while at the same time saying that they can’t teach children if you are gay is like smiling while slapping someone in the face and then hugging them afterwards.”
Voucher schools in Florida don’t limit their discrimination to LGBT families. Some also have policies against disabled children and certain religions.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP lawmakers defend that right to discriminate by saying the state isn’t directly funding these schools — that families are the ones choosing to use their state money at discriminatory schools
Florida governor, legislators back state funding for private, anti-LGBT schools | Commentary »
I say: If you take public money, you should also accept all of the public.
That’s how some legislators think it should be as well. State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, is among those sponsoring bills to crack down on LGBT discrimination in hiring and say that any school that takes public money must also accept all students
Republican Senate President Bill Galvano has said he believes the issue deserves consideration.
Eskamani was particularly troubled by Toro Lisciandro’s case, saying: “If they treat teachers like this, imagine how they treat students.”
Rep. Anna V. Eskamani
@AnnaForFlorida
Just spoke to Monica, this teacher in Brevard who was fired for being #LGBTQ. She is sharing her story & I am proud to help. We must pass #HB45/#SB56, & @flcompetes so we can ban discrimination in our state & allow every Floridian to live life as their authentic self. #LoveIsLove https://twitter.com/AnnaForFlorida/status/1185588011548971008 …
Rep. Anna V. Eskamani
Teacher was fired by a PRIVATE VOUCHER SCHOOL for being gay. That’s why we must pass #HB45/#SB56 & ban public dollars from going to any private school that discriminates their kids— if they treat teachers like this, imagine how they’ll treat students. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/n...ay/3908379002/ …
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Originally Posted by Standing Wolf
