A teacher from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has filed a lawsuit against the Covenant Christian Academy claiming the administration suspended her son for being gay.
Covenant Christian Academy
Headmaster Joseph Sanelli.
Sharon Wright filed a 30-page complaint saying the school then "fired her for not forcing [her son] to renounce the 'sin'." Huffington Post reports.
Wright claims that after the high school senior announced his sexual orientation on a blog, school Headmaster Joseph Sanelli told the family their son should remain at home until a meeting could be arranged.
During the meeting with Sanelli and other administrators, Wright claims she was told her son would be "permanently suspended from school" until he "renounced his sin." Furthermore, the plaintiff claims Rich Raynor, a school board member, lashed out and said there was something wrong with the high school student.
"Your son is broken," Raynor said, according to the complaint. "And it's your job to fix him."
According to Wright, her son announced his sexual orientation on a blog on Oct. 12, 2009, the Courthouse News reports, and then the school "took steps to immediately suspend him from school." The complaint says that Raynor's wife, Leslie, told Wright that this was a "battle for [your son's] soul."
Wright then claims that after consulting several "psychiatric, psychological and pediatric professionals," she and her husband had concluded that "their son’s sexual orientation was already determined, that it would be potentially harmful to try to 'reprogram' him, that they had decided their best course of action was to support him and love him for who he is, and that they could not agree that homosexuality is a sin."
According to the complaint, Sanelli sent Wright a letter that said her "support of her son in no way affects the employment of Sharon here at CCA or the enrollment of [her son]. We support Sharon and consider her a valuable member of the faculty."
Despite the letter from Sanelli, Wright claims she was harassed for the remainder of the school year, which eventually led her to develop anxiety and depression. According to the complaint, when Wright requested medical leave to seek treatment, she was told to take "a year to heal" and then denied contract renewal.
Leave a Comment:
this is what happens when "christians" try to force their beliefs on others.
the real "sinners" are the headmaster and the administrators.
let he who is WITHOUT sin cast the first stone.
Covenant Christian Academy....doesn't that tell youb all you need to know?
these so called christians make me so sick. i hope that teacher ends up owning the school after this.
God created ALL of us, gay/straight/asexual/transgender. god does not discriminate based on orientation. Jesus clearly told us to love one another as He loves us. these people at this school are not christians and are just big bullies.
The Christian god certainly does discriminate. The bible is replete with all of the ways he discriminates, and kills those he disagree with.
And yes that includes Jesus. Whole miracle of the trinity thing, God the father is the exact same entity as Jesus. There is no difference between them. Everything done in the Old Testament was Jesus at work, he just signed "father" to his work.
Now I guess you could just say forget the bible, Jesus is what I say he is, and he is peace, love, sunshine and marshmallows with a warm chocolate shell.
But of course if you throw away the bible, or just edit out all the unpleasant parts you aren't really the same Christian as the billions who didn't remove all those parts. So please for the sake of clarity pick a new name for yourself.
How dare a Christian school teach about beliefs...
I think the attitude of the School is BROKEN and needs to be firxed.
These religious fundermentalists freaks needs to go jump in the lake.
Wouldn't they just call that a baptism?
If the mother and son signed on to a theocratic rule system by being involved with the school then they have no right to ally legal recourse. You get what you sign on for. If they signed on to follow some set of rules against this then they can not complain. Furthermore if the school directs the student to some other education facility then there is nothing that can be done.
Don't want to deal with teavangelicals don't work or attend a teavangelical institution.
A real sad situation that we are still having this type idiocy from church schools. Accept all the children and teach them for heavens sake.
Wonder why the parents enrolled their kid in a Chrisitan School? If it was contrary to their beliefs, wouldn't there have been a public school nearby they could have used?
Church schools don't have to accept and teach all the children, that's why they are church schools. Don't like that, then do what I do and don't be apart of such an institution. I'm not saying I agree but I just have a hard time feeling sorry for someone who signs on and knows this is what they represent. Say this was a muslim student who signed up and wanted to go to this academy to sue for the school not being sensitive to their beliefs. You can't have the amish bus driver argument.
You can't be an amish guy trying to be a truck driver and then sue the company who hired you for them firing you after you refuse to drive said truck because of your amishness!
More importantly our kids aren't learning a damn thing at any school so frankly it's a little late to be critical of teaching methods.....they're not missing out on any education 'cuz that would imply they're actually getting one to begin with. Now on a related note I don't believe that religious schools you take any government money have a right to believe whatever and teach whatever they want. They can believe and teach as they wish but not with our money.
I mean honestly there are christian schools out there who teach the loch ness monster is real in their textbooks...not an exaggeration....seriously that actually happened as crazy as it sounds. Totally serious. I wish that were a joke, it isn't.
overall CC, i agree with your posts above.
i am trying to understand the mother's reaction to this situation, and believe it is possible, even if she taught at that school for many years, that she may not have known about the stance they would take on a gay student, if she herself did not know her son was gay, or did not know that he planned to come out. we ignore topics that have no affect on us, as a general rule.
it is natural, especially if we are shocked by a decision that someone has made (5 stages of grief), to react in ways that are human, that are normal as evidenced by the 5 stages of grief (Elizabeth Kubler Ross).
we all love to use the phrase, "they should have known".
maybe they did not know.
i have also seen situations where school administrators or teachers or bosses or others will say the right thing as in, 'this will not affect the employment of Sharon here at the CCA", and do their best to get rid of the employee.
this is clearly discriminatory, i believe, and this mother has the right to TRY to do what she thinks is right.
i am more emotional than you are, i believe, so i really appreciate the logic you bring to the discussion.
Yes Suzette these are all true but I just feel that they kind of aren't very important to the argument. It's odd and there are several questions that we simply do not know. So it is possible the family didn't know the school would react as they did, that's possible. But if in the rulebook that students have to sign if this is discussed as against their code then they should have known.
If anything this shows them that the policy they signed on to has negative affects on people's lives and was a mistake. They would learn first stand how painful these things can be first hand and why they are wrong.
So there was discrimination but I'm not sure that warrants a successful lawsuit. Was it messed up? Yes but legally I don't think they have many options. You can't force the school to change its beliefs becuase you don't agree, people have the right to think whatever they want so unless public money is invovled the public doesn't and shouldn't have any sway.
She's these too SUE them for $300,000,000.00
greed!
Sad that Christians are so determined to be against gay girls and boys who are born that way and do not choose that way of life. Stop discriminating against gay boys and girls who are in school to learn.
I guess I would follow up with what Jed Bartlet on "West Wing" said to talk show host Jenna Jacobs:
"The West Wing: The Midterms (#2.3)" (2000)
President Josiah Bartlet: Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does.
President Josiah Bartlet: Yes, it does. Leviticus.
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.
President Josiah Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important 'cause we've got a lot of sports fans in this town: Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing: While you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits.
I hate to think what happens to the kids of these so-called religious people if and when the kid tells them he's gay. Do they try to re-program him, pray the gay away, beat it out of him? Or does the kid try to repress it, knowing what his parents and the school would do? Either way, the kid doesn't stand much of a chance.
I hate to think how many may end up comitting suicide because they can't be "fixed". Such a sad situation when you can't accept your children for who they really are.
I do not believe in lesbian and gays, but they are human beings I am okay with that,I am not here to judge anyone's sexual preference that is for the lord to do.Meanwhile I would try to live with the situation.
You cannot make a gay turn straight, anymore than you could turn gay. You are hardwired the way you are and nothing can change that. And anybody that thinks it's a choice doesn't know what they're talking about.
will,
lesbians and gays are here, on this earth, you better believe in them. they do exist.
they are human, NOT SUB-HUMAN, as "some" would have us believe.
how do you think the lord judges lesbians and gays? the very idea that he "judges" them, doesn't sound to me like its a good thing, or favorable to the lesbian or gay person.
the lord probably wouldn't judge them too harshly if the lesbian or gay person controlled his urges, and hid his sexuality, if they DID THE RIGHT THING.
i would think it would be a horrible way to live, constantly hiding who we are.
When will people understand that you don't become gay overnight and do not choose that way of life. If you are gay you were born that way. When I was a child you dare not admit to being gay because you would be picked on and beat up by other children in the school. However, things have changed alot since I was a child. My nieces lived with me for several years and a couple of their friends were gay and their gay friends were not picked on by other kids. The young people are more accepting. Their are some adults that have come along way with their acceptance of gay people but there are still way too many of them that haven't. If their fellow class mates can accept them for who they are, isn't it time for the school teachers and administrators to do the same thing.
Hmmm...the mom works for the school, the son attended the school. Not just any school, but a private religious school. The school can pick and choose those that work in their school and those who attend their school. I'm sure the mom knew what the doctrine of the church is. Churches, like it or not, can and will enforce their doctrine. There is nothing that you can do about that, and you can't file discrimination. They are protected institutions and can and will discriminate when things come to the light regarding in this case homosexuality and their beliefs that you can "cure the gay". As horrible as this is...it's completely legal and she has no case.
As a gay man, trust me, that Headmaster is as gay as a 3 dollar bill. he's just deep in the closet
You could not be more right Lloyd.
We have seen him at the Adult World Bookstore in Harrisburg quite regularly getting his jollies, so this gay thing isn't big news!
I hope this school receives $0 in state or federal supports.
that head master is as gay as you can get, him and chris critie are raging homo queens
Adult World, 3932 Jonestown Rd, Harrisburg, PA 17109 is his favorite hang out early in the a.m. on his way home to his supposed wifie! Another closet case ruled by the so-called uber-Christian doctrine - what a crock of bs!
The difference between the horror brought on to people by Fundamentalist Muslims and Fundamentalist Christians is the name.
I understand your feelings, but I think the degree is off by a magnitude of 100. In a madrasah, the poor kid would have been stoned to death, and mom would get the lash.
Its always funny to me that the people who hold other people back, have the most problems. So the school doesnt like that he is gay. But they let the fighters come back, the bullies come back, sexual predators comeback but nope your son is gay so he has to go.
wow, it seems that being different really matters-- what a bunch of slugs the headmaster is.
While I agree in principle, is not the headmaster subject to the (I presume there is one) board of regents?
I nominate Sharon Wright for TEACHER and PARENT of the year!!!