As the "respect for honestly held beliefs" MARCHES ON, not against GLBT's, but WOMEN.

[Tyler Durden]

I know that this happened in TOPEKA KANSAS, home of the Phelps family but this should still raise a hue and cry.

DS1 posted this in LBN:

Removal of woman referee by religious school has some crying foul

Source: The Kansas City Star

Just minutes before tip-off, basketball referee Michelle Campbell was ready to take the court. Shoes laced up, shirt tucked in, whistle in hand.

Then she noticed the discussion between her officiating partner and the school’s athletic director.

Finally, Campbell got the news: She wouldn’t be officiating the boys’ high school basketball game. Because she’s a woman.

The game was at St. Mary’s Academy, a private religious school that sits on a sprawling campus about 25 miles northwest of Topeka. Before the game started, a school administrator approached Campbell’s officiating partner, Darin Putthoff of Topeka, and told him a woman could not serve as referee.

That would be putting a woman in a position of authority over boys, he was told — a scenario that was contrary to beliefs at St. Mary’s Academy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3180968

The school calls their teams, not to surprisingly, "The Crusaders." Wonder how they'd feel about a MUSLIM, or a JEW officiating.

Now I want you to think VERY CAREFULLY about this, an action by a Fundamentalist Religious group ("...the Society of St. Pius X, an international society of traditional Roman Catholic priests. The society generally disdains the modern reforms to Catholic teachings and rites made by the Second Vatican Council...") which holds one of those "...honestly held beliefs..." that I keep hearing about...

And I want you to REMEMBER this the next time you want to excuse either of the front runners when they talk about how we have to respect THEIR or SOMEBODY ELSE'S Religious Beliefs that certain "people" are not allowed full participation in this society. This goes to the HEART of this issue: if some group can minimize people of a certain sex (or belief, or orientation) then they can be excused for say, not having a JEW participate in society because "THEY KILLED CHRIST!" or a MUSLIM, or a Homosexual, or a LEFT HANDED PERSON (I mean, we ALL know that SATAN was cast out on the LEFT HAND OF GOD...), or a LIBERAL.

Call your Candidate, WHOEVER THEY ARE, call your legislator, call the NEWS, but DO SOMETHING other than make excuses about "...honestly held beliefs..."

I'm certain that the NAZIS had "...honestly held beliefs..." was of great relief to the inmates of AUSCHWITZ.

[BoneDaddy]

1. What a bunch of sick minded people

some religious fundies can be.

[Tyler Durden]

4. Whatever drugs they take in Topeka, I don't want any.

Oh yeah, and drag them out of the hands of our front running candidates while you're at it.

[Tyler Durden]

2. As another plea for Equality Under The Law for all persons slowly sinks in the west....

...we bid "Fairwell!" to that most cherished of civil liberties that spawned everything from the Constitution to the Civil Rights Movement, and our ship sails serenely to that isle of indifference to the rights of others where votes for the presidency sprout from the ground like slime mold.

[msongs]

3. let's impose bible scriptures on everybody, stone people, and so on nt

[Tyler Durden]

5. I don't care what Leviticus says....

I'm still eating shrimp or bacon, and wearing fabric blends: they're so light, and cool in the summer.

[Tyler Durden]

6. Glug, glug, glug.

You know something? I get the feeling that if it doesn't piss specifically on one candidate or the other, or if it says "GLBT" anywhere it the title or post, it's destined for Davy Jones' Locker.

[qb]

7. This respect for religious practices that harm others reminds me of the disgust I felt

when Minnesota state senator John Marty (D) blocked the repeal of law that exempts parents from criminal prosecution if they allow a child to die from a treatable disease (a religious exemption for people who believe prayer is the only acceptable "treatment" for illness).

http://www.atheistsforhumanrights.org/child.htm

[Tyler Durden]

8. It's time we stopped making excuses for people.....

...who listen to "bad voices" telling them that some humans are less equal than others.

[susanr516]

9. Excellent post

"Honestly held beliefs" does not make them right.

[theHandpuppet]

10. Wow -- there are no words

I wish I had seen this earlier so I could have given it a recommendation.

Thank you for posting this, distressing as it is.