Canadutch
Ok, so yesterday I wrote about a teacher who was canned from her job because she decided she didn’t want to shake hands with men anymore. Apparently, she made this decision for religious reasons and that didn’t really jive with the Dutch way of life.
Now today I read this article over at DutchNews.nl about a teacher who was suspended for being gay:
Christian school suspends gay teacher
Friday 15 May 2009
A strict Protestant primary school has suspended a teacher after he admitted he was homosexual and had found a partner, local tv station Omroep Gelderland reports.
The school’s board said the man’s sexual orientation conflicted with the school’s ethos, the broadcaster said, quoting a letter to parents and pupils.
‘The board respects the teacher’s choice but that choice of relationship conflicts with the foundation and aims of the school which he accepted as a teacher. This means the working relationship between the teacher and our school cannot be continued,’ the letter states.
So it’s not ok for a teacher to refuse certain practices based on his or her religious beliefs, but it’s ok for a school to refuse work to a teacher based on theirs? Oh hell no.
In the Netherlands it is legal for gay couples to get married, they can adopt children and they are recognized as honest to goodness partners the same as heterosexual couples. If, as stated in the previous article about shaking hands, the purpose of teachers in Dutch schools is to prepare the students for the Dutch culture and labour market, why is this any different?
Seriously! WTF?
If teachers are going to be forced to do things “The Dutch Way” regardless of religion, then so should the schools, and equal rights for Homosexuals IS the Dutch way, isn’t it?
What a load of rubbish.
Thats the problem, of course we have the Dutch way, and then there’s the Christian way of life, very different.. Can’t happen in a public school though!
This is all such a load of crap. Last I checked, we were all human beings. Why don’t we treat each other that way?
kapgars last blog post… One for the money, two for the show…
It is, but unfortunately (and I want to stress that word) schools based on religious beliefs have private boards that can hire and fire teachers themselves even based on this stuff… They won’t have put it in the resignation but it will say that her “beliefs or way of life are not in line with the religious beliefs and goal of the school”
If she can proof that she was actually fired for being gay she can still sue the school though and will win the court case. It’s just that it’s hard to proof and most people that are fired don’t go there.
It’s bad though, I agree, and even though Dutch laws are tolerant that way, it unfortunately still happens. Still illegal to fire her for that reason officially… even for a christian school with their beliefs (which is why it won’t be the reason stated on the resignation)
Yeah I was looking at the article on Omroep Gelderland and apparently the teacher wasn’t fired, rather SUSPENDED. They said that they wouldn’t bring him/her back to teach, but there have been no discussions of firing yet. They sent out a letter to the parents as well, imagine… I wonder how all the parents feel about it, but being Christian themselves they are probably glad now that their children won’t catch the dreadful gay disease from the heathen devil teacher. *Rolls eyes*
Interesting how the extreme Christian organizations here can oppress women and gays and it’s okay…but if it’s a Muslim organization, the shite hits the fan.
I just give my head a shake…