TWU: Christian covenant
The law school at TWU has yet to commence and given the uncertainty surrounding it there’s no date on when it will. The issue revolves around the fact that TWU has stipulated each prospective student must sign a Christian covenant to gain admission.
The covenant states only students in a marriage between a man and a woman are permitted to have sex and attend their law school. In essence it posits that sex is only for marriage and even then only for marriage between a man and woman; so if you’re gay, even gay and married, you cannot gain admittance.
Similarly, should you be heterosexual – or bisexual for that matter – and not married and engaging in sex you likewise would be barred from the TWU law school.
The Law Society of B.C. is front and center in the controversy. Initially the LSBC’s board said graduated students from TWU’s proposed law school would be accredited to practice in the province, their ‘bencher’ vote taking place in April of 2014. But that ruling didn’t last.
Many in their rank and file objected to it and insisted the opportunity to vote upon it be given the membership. In an October of 2014 referendum the LSBC membership voted 74 percent in favour of denying accreditation to TWU law students because of the covenant. And rightly so.
Religion v. Equality
Not unexpectedly TWU took that decision to court and the ruling Thursday from Honourable Chief Justice Christopher E. Hinkson in ‘Trinity Western University v. The Law’ went in favour of TWU. His decision appears to be based upon procedural requirements and not the Charter of Rights.
There’s no word yet whether the BCLS will appeal the ruling but given their membership’s strong opposition to an exclusive law school that does not meet the bar of equality it is likely they will. A similar ruling in Nova Scotia is being appealed by the law society there while the Ontario’s law society’s denial of accreditation to TWU law graduates was upheld by a court.
The issue is freedom of religion versus equality rights. Or is it? Clearly an inclusive law school does not infringe upon a person’s freedom of religion. How would it? Are they saying their right to not study alongside a gay person is being denied?
There is no such right. Christians and gays mix in society daily and no group has the right to avoid another. This is certainly the wrong country for that!
For that matter, many Christians are gay, and gay or straight, many, as with non-Christians, have sex out of wedlock. So they’d be excluding some from their own sub-set. And here’s this: no government, no university, no group whatever, has the right to bar someone for practices that are legal and private.
And healthy!
On the other hand, a school such as the one proposed by TWU does not meet the standard of equality we value and hold as a requirement in Canadian society. Sexual practices must never be the business of our institutions and denying admission based upon such criteria is non-inclusive and therefore does not meet our country’s definition of equality.
The Christian administrators of TWU must be taught they do not operate in a vacuum, but rather in a society which can insist they meet pre-ordained standards. For we must never allow one group to exclude another based upon such a discriminatory policy.
To do so would not only open the doors for it to be done by others in other instances but would also be a breach of the rights Canadians have come to count upon and to cherish.
So let us hope there is an appeal and that in the end justice prevails. Not to prevent TWU from having a law school – but to prevent them from having a discriminatory one.
