Belmont University, a Christian school in Nashville, is on the defense after firing a coach who admitted she was a lesbian and her partner was pregnant. What's heartening, though, is how many students and fellow faculty are speaking out for the coach and pointing out how uncharitable and un-Christian the act of firing her was.
Max Ellis, a Belmont freshman and social chair of Bridge Builders, said Wednesday that the group is protesting the administration, not the university. "I'm convinced that this is no more than a few powerful people with this ideal in their head of what Belmont is and they're trying to force that sort of morality on us. They're trying to tell us what our morals are and what our ethics should be," he said. "The administration is making decisions that are not representative of the student population. And it's not representative of the vast majority of what we believe to be Christian morals. We're protesting against them on the basis of Christian morality."
School administrators have done an about-face, first pointing out that the school's code of conduct prohibits sex outside of marriage and then claiming that they don't discriminate against gay and lesbian students and employees. But this is an issue being hashed out at a Christian University in the South: There was a time when support would have fallen unquestionably and predictably on the school's side. This case is sad, but the hints at progress are, perhaps, encouraging.
-- Monica Potts
