Christian Professor Tells Belmont University: Anti-Gay Discrimination Hurts Everyone

There has been a chorus of voices chiding Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, for being a place where anti-gay discrimination prospers. Current students have taken the school to task. Alumni have expressed disappointment and dismay. Even a multi-million dollar donor to the University said that the school needs to get with the program and stop alienating LGBT faculty and students.

Now a professor, who also happens to be a politician on the Metro Council of Nashville and Davidson County, is out with a statement, telling the University that her faith requires her to treat LGBT people as equals. Professor and Councilwoman Kristine LaLonde sent out a statement to her supporters this week, talking about how she is working with faculty and staff at Belmont University to turn the school's reputation around, and make it a welcoming place for LGBT people.

"Along with many, many of my faculty colleagues, I have been devoting many hours toward the goal of ensuring that Belmont’s policies of inclusion and non-discrimination are clear and powerful," LaLonde wrote. "From my first job interviews with Belmont, I have made clear that my own Christian faith has informed support for equality and justice for all, including the GLBT community."

Now the question remains: will Belmont University hold up the type of values that LaLonde talks about -- equality, justice, non-discrimination -- or will it choose to interpret its mission as a place where anti-gay discrimination can not only thrive, but is institutionally welcome?

By now the story of Belmont has gained major national attention. First the school refused to allow gay students the chance to form a campus group, with the Dean of Students calling gay Christians "disruptive." Then a lesbian soccer coach was terminated, after officials at the university learned that she was starting a family with her same-sex partner. As if that weren't bad enough, others started to come forward with tales of discrimination, including former students and scholars who once thought about working at the school.

In response, the Metro Council in Nashville has actually put forward a piece of legislation that would allow the city to pull out of contracts with Belmont University. Nashville, after all, enacted a comprehensive anti-discrimination policy in 2009 preventing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. And according to two councilmembers sponsoring this legislation, that should mean that the local government should do everything in its power to make sure it's not contracting with entities that discriminate.

Councilwoman LaLonde, for her part, notes that the conversations at the school are ongoing, and that change is in the air. "Those dialogues are indeed ongoing, and I will take an active role in helping to shape a Belmont that our neighborhood and city can continue to take pride in," she concluded in her email.

And that's really the point. This is about making sure that Belmont is a university where all students, staff, faculty and alumni feel safe, regardless of their sexual orientation. That can start by allowing a group of gay students to organize. And it can continue by enacting a non-discrimination policy that prohibits employees from losing their jobs because of who they love.

Photo credit: Belmont University