Washington DC City Council Repeals Religious Exemption

[From article]
The impact of the repeal is likely to be broad, since the city’s Human Rights Act will prohibit religious schools from acting in accordance with their beliefs regarding sexual morality in decisions related to funding, facilities, campus organizations, benefits, etc. The schools cannot even withhold “endorsement, approval or recognition” of those promoting messages at odds with the religious teachings of the school about appropriate sexual conduct.
While other states have been acting to protect religious liberties, D.C. is trying to narrow the permissible decisions and even speech of religious schools. It is a warning that carefully constructed compromises on anti-discrimination bills are only temporary.
Congress should immediately act to restore this basic, narrow limitation on the power of D.C. to interfere with the teachings and practices of religious schools.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/394106/dc-council-religious-schools-must-adopt-its-views-sexual-morality-william-c-duncan

D.C. Council: Religious Schools Must Adopt Its Views on Sexual Morality
By William C. Duncan & Michael T. Worley
National Review
December 5, 2014 4:47 PM

Saudi Arabia Joins UN Rights Council

[From Editorial]
In Saudia Arabia
" Every rape victim is considered guilty by the religious police “and is punished along with her attacker.” So a 23-year-old woman who was gang-raped in 2009 was sentenced to a year in prison and 100 lashes for “adultery.”

Women can’t be alone with men outside their families. So a 75-year-old got four months in prison, plus 40 lashes, when two men visited her house to deliver bread.

AFP/Getty Images

Saudi woman

Women can’t practice law or become judges. And in court “the testimony of one man equals that of two women.”

Women may not drive and are only granted IDs or passports with a male guardian’s consent. And they must have the guardian’s permission to travel abroad, study or go to a hospital.

Fathers can force girls of 10 into marriage, says the country’s grand mufti: “Good upbringing makes a girl ready to perform all marital duties at that age.”


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/grotesque_guardians_Fj4thhE38r5qTtsjL5aIBK

Grotesque guardians
Editorial
New York Post
Last Updated: 5:01 AM, November 14, 2010
Posted: November 14, 2010

Discriminaton Laws Only for Some

Discriminaton Laws Only for Some

Eric P. Lesser said, “If they want to have a serious debate about affirmative action, that’s one thing[.]” Mark A. Shepard said, “they are themselves engaging in discrimination to protest discrimination.” Vijay G. Warrier said, “This idea is completely ridiculous[.]” (PARAS D. BHAYANI, "In protest against affirmative action, GOP club offers aid for Caucasians," Harvard Crimson, November 22, 2006)
How can so many allegedly sensitive individuals and groups in Cambridge have a hole in their brain when it comes to persons with disabilities? In most institutions and governments when it comes to Affirmative Action persons with disabilities are as much a protected category as race, religion, gender and sexual preference. But persons with disabilities never enter the minds of the racial and ethnic groups who clamor for special consideration.
One man of color explained why it is OK to exclude persons with disabilities. He told me, "At least we're whole people." Who learns from whom?
The Cambridge Human Rights Commission omits persons with disabilities from its programs on discrimination. The Affirmative Action officer of the Cambridge schools omits persons with disabilities from her annual report. Just because everybody does it does not make it right. It is an outrage.
--
Roy Bercaw, Editor
Cambridge MA USA

In protest against affirmative action, GOP club offers aid for Caucasians
Published On 11/22/2006 1:57:34 AM
By PARAS D. BHAYANI
Harvard Crimson Staff Writer

Criticizing scholarships reserved for minority students, the Boston University College Republicans announced Monday that the group will be awarding a $250 scholarship that requires applicants to be at least 25 percent Caucasian. The move was intended to provoke discussion on “the morally wrong practice” of using “racial preferences rather than merit” in awarding scholarship money, according to a statement from the BU Republicans.
The Republican group’s president, Joseph J. Mroszczyk, said last night that he first heard of the idea for a Caucasian-only scholarship from Jason Mattera, the former College Republicans president at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. who initiated a similar program there. Mroszczyk said in an interview that his organization was protesting the National Hispanic Recognition Program, the only scholarship offered at BU for which ethnicity is a prerequisite.
He added that reaction to the Caucasian-only scholarship has been “mostly positive,” and that he has received dozens of e-mails supporting the plan. Since the story was first reported in the B.U. Daily Free Press yesterday, the Republicans’ move has garnered attention nationally—including from blogger Matt Drudge and FOX News’ Brit Hume. But in interviews last night, several Harvard students said that the Caucasian-only scholarship was divisive.
“An act such as this is probably not going to help people on the other side of the table understand where the BU Republicans are coming from,” said Jason C. B. Lee ’08, president of the Harvard Black Students Association.
“We’re open to discussion, but we think it should be done in a less inflammatory way.” Leaders of Harvard’s political community agreed, criticizing the means used by the BU Republicans. “If they want to have a serious debate about affirmative action, that’s one thing,” said Eric P. Lesser ’07, former president of the Harvard College Democrats. “But if they want to resort to these gimmicks, then that’s despicable.”
“The statement they’re making is worthwhile,” said Mark A. Shepard ’08, the former vice president of the Harvard College Republicans, “but they are themselves engaging in discrimination to protest discrimination.”
“This idea is completely ridiculous,” Vijay G. Warrier ’09 said. “But if this scholarship is awarded, Indian-Americans should be allowed to apply because any reasonable usage of the term ‘Caucasian’ would include most Indians.” Many anthropologists and biologists believe that those who live in present day India and Pakistan are genetically Caucasian, having emigrated from Western Eurasia centuries ago.
“Any other usage would reveal the true purpose of this scholarship, which is to stoke racial tensions,” Warrier added.
—Staff writer Paras D. Bhayani can be reached at pbhayani@fas.harvard.edu. http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=515961