{"id":1640033,"date":"2022-09-13T12:04:08","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T16:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1640033"},"modified":"2022-09-13T12:05:01","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T16:05:01","slug":"christian-college-sued-by-students-staff-over-lgbtq-hiring-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/christian-college-sued-by-students-staff-over-lgbtq-hiring-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian College Sued By Students, Staff Over LGBTQ Hiring Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchristian-college-sued-by-students-staff-over-lgbtq-hiring-ban%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1640033&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Christian college in Washington state has been sued by more than a dozen students and staff members over its LGBTQ hiring ban based on its religious beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1RqS2DiaJ2KxkgckWXMsEe665KFxHfB2M\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> against Seattle Pacific University (SPU) was filed in Washington State Superior Court on Monday. The legal filing requests that interim President Pete Menjares and other leaders supportive of the university\u2019s policy be removed from their positions.<\/p>\n<p>The 16 plaintiffs also request that an undetermined amount of money be paid to anyone harmed by the school\u2019s LGBTQ hiring policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis case is about six men who act as if they, and the educational institution they are charged to protect, are above the law,\u201d the lawsuit reads. \u201cWhile these men are powerful, they are not above the law\u2026 They must be held to account for their illegal and reckless conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The university was founded by the Free Methodist Church, a denomination whose religious convictions do not recognize same-sex marriage. Same-sex relationships are also <a href=\"https:\/\/spu.edu\/about-spu\/press-room\/Press\/board-decision-employee-lifestyle-expectations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prohibited<\/a> in the university\u2019s lifestyle expectations guide for full-time employees.<\/p>\n<p>The case against the university follows a controversial <a href=\"https:\/\/www.king5.com\/article\/news\/local\/gay-teacher-sues-seattle-pacific-university-alleging-discrimination\/281-e7c7297d-7370-4018-a228-c54178f7fe4a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> in 2021 by adjunct instructor J\u00e9aux\u00a0Rinehahl. He argued that he was denied a full-time, tenured role because he is gay.<\/p>\n<p>The case was later settled out of court but highlighted concerns about SPU\u2019s hiring policies. In May, a group of students led a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.king5.com\/article\/news\/local\/seattle\/seattle-pacific-university-student-walkout-lgbtq-staff-hiring-rule\/281-13fa168c-490d-4560-a1a0-9ac69cb0c872\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">walk-out<\/a> that reportedly included hundreds of students leaving classrooms to demonstrate against the university\u2019s policy and advocate for LGBTQ faculty and staff members.<\/p>\n<p>In June, a group of students protested by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/06\/15\/us\/seattle-pacific-university-graduation-pride-flags\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">handing out<\/a>\u00a0pride flags to the school\u2019s interim president rather than shaking his hand when receiving diplomas.<\/p>\n<p>Dean Kato, chair of the board of trustees and a defendant in the new lawsuit, affirmed the school\u2019s policy after the June event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe acknowledge there is disagreement among people of faith on the topic of sexuality and identity,\u201d Kato wrote to student activists, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/religion-education-relationships-lawsuits-d04a0aec82550687777313734e17b2fb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to<\/a> the Associated Press. \u201cBut after careful and prayerful deliberation, we believe these longstanding employee expectations are consistent with the University\u2019s mission and Statement of Faith that reflect a traditional view on biblical marriage and sexuality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following weeks of protests by students and alumni fighting SPU\u2019s ban, the group said it would move forward with legal action. After a meeting with Kato and Menjares on July 1, the group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CffLqf7vUtj\/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> on Instagram, \u201cThe board has elected to refuse our demands, meaning we will be moving forward with litigation. This is not a decision that we take lightly, but it is a decision we believe will protect the future of our university.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The protesters also launched a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/hold-the-spu-board-of-trustees-accountable\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GoFundMe<\/a> to raise funds for legal costs. The effort has raised more than $51,000 toward its cause.<\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s description claims it has \u201ctaken almost every measure they can to hold the Board accountable, with no success in changing SPU\u2019s discriminatory policies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Christian college in Washington state has been sued by more than a dozen students and staff members over its LGBTQ hiring ban based on its religious beliefs. The lawsuit against Seattle Pacific University (SPU) was filed in Washington State Superior Court on Monday. The legal filing requests that interim President Pete Menjares and other &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1640035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1640033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1640033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1640033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1640033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1640035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1640033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1640033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1640033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}