When I was applying to law schools last fall, I received an invitation to apply to Liberty University. My father was thrilled. (By 鈥渉e was thrilled,鈥� I of course mean 鈥渉e laughed uproariously.鈥�) For those not in the know, Liberty University was founded by segregationist and televangelist Jerry Falwell, and is the largest evangelical Christian university in the world.
I declined to apply to Liberty for a variety of reasons, not least because Falwell was a terrible human being. But I plan to have the invitation framed. It makes me giggle.
Besides, if I want a law degree from a Christian university, it turns out I can stay in B.C. Trinity Western University, a private university in Langley, has plans to open a law faculty in 2016. Alas for Trinity Western, the road has not been smooth.
Recently, the bar societies of Nova Scotia and Ontario have refused to allow Trinity Western law graduates to be called to the bar in those provinces. Why? Because of the Christian school鈥檚 condemnation of sexual intimacy outside of heterosexual marriage, a stance which has been correctly identified as homophobic.
It鈥檚 important to note, however, that the Law Society of B.C. will be recognizing Trinity Western鈥檚 law program, and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada has already granted it preliminary approval.
Still, the president of Trinity Western, Bob Kuhn, is upset that his school has been taken to task for discriminating against gays and lesbians. In a statement, he argued that the societies鈥� decisions 鈥渟end the chilling message that you cannot hold religious values and also participate fully in public society.鈥�
Which is a claim that鈥檚 hard to take with a straight face, given that this institution has chosen to define its religious values in a way that aims to prevent men and women who are homosexual from participating fully in public society.
(As an aside, aren鈥檛 regular Christians just absolutely exhausted by this 鈥渇aith-based鈥� justification for homophobia? I imagine it must get really frustrating trying to explain that you鈥檙e a Christian but not, like, one of those Christians.)
It鈥檚 the old 鈥測ou have to be tolerant of my intolerance鈥� argument. For better or worse, B.C.鈥檚 law society has agreed to recognize degrees from Trinity Western, given that the private institution has the religious right to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. This does not mean, however, that the Nova Scotia Barristers鈥� Society and the Law Society of Upper Canada are being 鈥渁nti-religious鈥� 鈥� they鈥檙e being anti-homophobic.
Our laws are collective agreements; they change (slowly) according to our ever-evolving values. Hopefully, through law, we keep our positive traditions alive while shedding what is harmful. Law is a conversation about who we are and what we value. And as a society, 91原创s have decided that lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and transgendered people deserve equal rights under the law.
You don鈥檛 get to pretend to be shocked and saddened when your institution鈥檚 failure to respect those rights gets called out.
Getting into law school is hard. The application process is disgustingly difficult, but as I fought my way through it, I was privileged to meet some really excellent people. I attended mixers in B.C., Ontario and Nova Scotia, and was continually humbled and impressed by my fellow applicants. They were all intelligent, honest, open, creative and passionate. For the first time, I began to feel truly excited about choosing law. If the people I met are any indication of the calibre of people who are going to be practising and shaping 91原创 law in the coming decades, then we鈥檙e in good hands.
It鈥檚 facile to pretend that the minor blowback Trinity Western is facing for discriminating against the LGBQT community is similar in kind or magnitude to the discrimination that LGBQT people in Canada have faced and continue to face. These things are not the same.
The worst thing Trinity Western law graduates would have to face is continually apologizing for the reputation of their school.
