Christian school won't enroll child of lesbians

You've got to wonder why a lesbian couple would want to enroll their child in a traditional Christian school. Jill and Tracy Harrison were "married" in Canada a few years ago. Jill then conceived a daughter, Olivia, with the help of a sperm donor. And this year, Jill and Tracy tried to enroll her in St. Vincent's Episcopal School in Bedford, Texas. School officials denied Olivia admission following a parents night at which they realized the situation.

The school is affiliated with St. Vincent's Cathedral, which, like a growing number of traditionally minded Episcopal parishes, left the liberal Episcopal Church and joined the Anglican Church in North America.

The Rev. Ryan Reed, dean of St. Vincent's Cathedral, had this to say: "We regret the disappointment the mother feels, but also do not understand why she would want to enroll her child in a school that would undercut her own personal values at home."

I don't understand either, unless someone's trying to provoke a lawsuit.

It's similar to the case this past spring in Boulder, Colo., where the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School declined to enroll two children of a lesbian couple. As the priest involved in that situation, Fr. Bill Breslin, said at the time, "If a child of gay parents comes to our school, and we teach that gay marriage is against the will of God, then the child will think that we are saying their parents are bad. We don't want to put any child in that tough position. . . ."

Central to traditional Christian teaching is that sexual intimacy should be reserved for marriage, and that marriage means the union of a man and a woman. Why would a lesbian couple, obviously in disagreement with those fundamental precepts, choose a traditional Christian school?

Most parents I know are desperate for schools that don't tear down the moral underpinnings of their faith and of their lives.