Belmont University Removes Lesbian Coach for Starting a Family?

Belmont University: The place where tolerance goes to die.

Okay, so that's not the school's official motto, but it's been quite the month for Belmont University, at least in terms of LGBT rights. In mid-November, school administrators refused to approve a campus group for gay students, going so far as to say that allowing groups of gay students to meet on campus would violate the school's moral code. Dean of Students Andrew Johnston even went on record to say that gay Christians could be disruptive.

Now Belmont University has stepped in it again, with students on the university's women's soccer team saying that their coach, Lisa Howe, was forced to resign because she was about to have a baby with her same-sex partner. Howe had been a coach there for more than five years, and was well regarded by her players. She even coached the team to the Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season championship in 2009.

But Belmont University apparently doesn't care about the talent of their coaching staff. They're more concerned about policing the bedrooms of their employees.

Erica Carter and Ashley Hudak, two students at Belmont, said that Howe told them earlier this week that the University couldn't accept the fact that she was having a child with a same-sex partner, and would have to leave the school immediately.

"She said she needed to resign or she was going to be fired because of the choices she had made with her life," Hudak said. "She said she had tried to clear telling us she was having a baby through the athletic department and they weren't allowing her to."

So not only does the University loathe the fact that Howe is having a baby with the love of her life, but they also wanted to dictate whether or not Howe could tell her players, who are like a second family? Yeesh, there are maximum security prisons that aren't as restricting as Belmont University.

An article that ran in the BelmontVision, the student newspaper, noted that players were dejected and dismayed that the University would turn their Christian values into a vehicle for discrimination.

"The general feeling on the team when everyone heard was like a wildfire spread of fury and anger," reported the BelmontVision. "[Students] were all talking in groups and upset and outraged that they would take [their] coach away after all that she has done for the program and for us individually."

The University, for its part, is saying that they didn't fire Howe, and that she chose to resign. Convenient statement, it seems, especially when Howe's choices seemed to be, according to her players, "Get fired or resign."

The students on the soccer team now want answers. And they deserve them. Is Belmont University going to be the type of place, kind of like Benedictine University, where employees are fired for who they sleep with? Is it going to be the type of place where LGBT students are not only denied a chance to meet as a group, but forced to watch as employees who are LGBT are pushed out the door?

Send the University a message asking them to stop the discrimination, and stop the intolerance. Having "Christian" values doesn't mean that you have to treat your LGBT students like second class citizens, or remove employees because they want to start a family with someone of the same gender.

And a message to the leaders of Belmont University: you could learn a thing or two from your students, who seem to get that being a Christian doesn't have to go hand-in-hand with being a hater.

Photo credit: Belmont University