Mountain Echo

Issue date: 3/17/10 Section: Forum

With the recent advancement of gay rights, many Maryland institutions of higher education have added sexual orientation as a protected class in their statement of non-discrimination; McDaniel College, Hood College, Loyola University, University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins University are among those making the change.

In adding sexual-orientation to a statement of non-discrimination, an institution pledges to protect their homosexual population from prejudice and unfair treatment.

Unlike their contemporaries, the Mount has yet to add this to either their admissions or their employment statements of non-discrimination.

"Our policy is based on the federal laws," said Mount Director of Human Resources Barbara Miller. "…at this time sexual orientation is not a protected class under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines."

The American Civil Liberties Union also states that private educational institutions are not required to classify sexual-orientation as protected.

These guidelines do not say that the protection of sexual-orientation is prohibited, but that it is not required. It is determined by the individual institution, unless required by state law, to protect those of unique sexual-orientation who choose to learn or work there.

What is keeping the Mount from protecting these individuals? Yes, it is a Catholic institution, but it is also an educational institution.

The Catholic Church teaches that acts of homosexuality are violations of divine and natural law and the protection of one's sexual-orientation would contradict those teachings. But should not institutions have the responsibility to protect the rights of its patrons?

Seventh Secretary General of the United Nations and winner of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize Kofi Annan stated that, "education is a human right and a premise of progress." It is not a straight right, and homosexuals are just as human as the rest of us.

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