06/11/2009
Leaked Dutch Govt Memo Suggests Schools Can Ban Gay Teachers
A memo detailing recommendations from the Council of State of The Netherlands was leaked to Christian newspaper Nederlands Dagblad this week suggesting that schools there can ban gay teachers. The memo is the result of a study undertaken following the firing of a gay schoolteacher in the central Netherlands village of Emst
NRC Handelsblad reports: "The Council of State, the highest advisory body to the Dutch government, says
religious schools can exclude gay teachers if they behave in ways that go
against what the institution stands for, even if it’s outside the classroom.
According to the advisory paper, schools are not allowed to discriminate,
but they do have a right to make specific demands of their staff. European
guidelines entitle schools to 'demand explicit loyalty from their staff'
to pass on their values, the council says. Those demands have to be directly
related to the foundations of the school or other religious institutions. The current anti-discrimination law in the Netherlands states that even
religious schools are not allowed to let the "single fact" of
someone's sexual preference, race or gender be a factor in the hiring or
firing process. But the law leaves room for so-called "additional
behaviour" to be factored in. A teacher could be dismissed for "a
certain lifestyle" that goes against what the institution stands for; a
relationship with someone of the same sex could be qualified as such."
Posted 11:28 AM EST by Andy Towle in Education, News, The Netherlands |
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Interesting. A good reminder that as tolerant as the Dutch are, Amsterdam is not representative of the whole country; there are a lot of rural, conservative folk there, with a Calvinist tradition too.
I went to my first legal gay wedding exactly ten years ago there (quite the novelty then). It was formal, held in a beautiful city hall on the park, and though it was in Amsterdam my friends had invited dozens of relatives from the countryside. What was striking to me was after they were declared (in Dutch) husband and husband, they left the room to kiss! It was called a "private moment", but my friends were wary of physical display- even a kiss after just getting married! This was out of consideration for the rural relatives I guess- but i've never forgotten how odd that was, in retrospect.
Posted by: Erik | Jun 11, 2009 12:07:44 PM
Anti-gay bigotry is pervasive. Whereever heterosexuals live anti-gay bigotry exists.
A study called "The Gender belief system, authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and heterosexuals' attitudes toward lesbians and gay men" explains the dynamics of anti-gay bigotry.
Posted by: Bill | Jun 11, 2009 12:38:49 PM
Oh, yeah. You can, but you can't. Don't ask, don't tell. Here's the cake, but don't eat it. Give with one hand, take with the other.
Religious heterosexual thugs.
Posted by: woodroad34 | Jun 11, 2009 12:41:27 PM
Andy I found your headline about this a bit misleading once I actually read the article. You just talk about schools in the Netherlands but you fail to mention that this was a memo regarding religious schools, not secular schools (which, I'm assuming in a place such as the Netherlands, religious schools are considered private entities as they are here).
Personally, it is of my belief that this should be ok, and I don't understand why our community takes such issue with this. If a school is privately-run, privately-funded and privately-religious, then I believe that that school should have the right and should have equal protection under the law to discriminate as they see fit. Many sects of Christianity do not approve of homosexuality (as we all know) so why is it even an issue? Of COURSE they don't want gay teachers. And a gay teacher who tries to go in and work for one of these schools is, quite frankly, an idiot, if he or she actually knows what he or she is getting into.
I just find it kind of funny that everyone on here is so vehemently railing against this sort of practice. It's not like we would let Maggie Gallagher anywhere near the HRC.
Posted by: Robbie | Jun 11, 2009 12:57:44 PM
Religious schools in the Netherlands receive state funding. While there is no constitutional seaparation between church and state, marriage is an exclusively civil institution which is why marriage equality there happened so (relatively) easily. The issue of state funding of religious schools has taken on a lot of additional meaning there because of the state of inter-religious relations which could fairly be described as tense. My sense is that anti-gay sentiment is not coming from the conservative christians (if there is such a thing there) so much as from muslims. Conservative politicians there use the new immigrants' intolerance, including homophobia, as a reason to be more restrictive on immigration. This policy recommendation from the Council of State is probably an effort to go the middle ground and will probably end up being called into question by one or more right-leaning politicians for its lack of tolerance. That two guys wouldn't want to kiss in front of everyone is easily explained by the fact that they are Dutch.
Posted by: don | Jun 11, 2009 1:22:18 PM
First of all, the 'Council of State', although a correct literal translation for 'Raad van State', does not accurately describe it. It is the Netherlands' Supreme Court, which cannot check if laws are constitutional as in the US, but does give the government advise on legal (and constitutional) matters (besides being the hight court of appeals).
It is a delicate situation, because it involves two articles of the Dutch constitution. Article 1 bans all forms of discrimination. Article 23 states the government's responsibility in providing education. Religious (which should be taken broadly here) schools, which make up about 60% of the schools here, get the same government funding as public schools. This has always been a contentious issue ever since it was introduced in 1917.
Anyways it is not all that simple, but the outcome here is clearly wrong. Gay and christian are overlapping terms. A gay christian should be able to teach at a christian school. Calling them all 'idiots', is not right in my opinion.
Posted by: Roel | Jun 12, 2009 5:44:51 PM
So who wrote this memo ? Bybee, Yoo, Addington ? Teachers in religious schools should have no less rights than other teachers, a fortiori, if religious schools receive the same funding as private schools.
Posted by: JackFknTwist | Sep 3, 2009 9:42:10 AM