XPost: can.politics, van.general   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   VANCOUVER – A Christian university that requires students to abide by a   
   so-called community covenant forbidding intimacy outside heterosexual   
   marriage has been cleared by the Law Society of British Columbia to open   
   its own law school, despite complaints that the covenant discriminates   
   against gays and lesbians.   
      
   Trinity Western University, which has about 3,600 students at its campus   
   in Langley, B.C., southeast of Vancouver, plans to open a law school in   
   the fall of 2016.   
      
   Gay rights advocates and some members of the legal community called on   
   regulators and the B.C. government to reject the university’s proposal,   
   pointing to a passage in the covenant that says students must abstain   
   from “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a   
   man and a woman.” Students can face discipline for violating the   
   covenant, either on or off campus, according to the school’s student   
   handbook.   
      
   The school already received preliminary approval from the Federation of   
   Law Societies of Canada, and B.C.’s Advanced Education Ministry has   
   approved the school to grant degrees.   
      
   The Law Society of B.C.’s benchers, who act as the organization’s board   
   of governors, debated a motion Friday that could have overruled the   
   federation’s approval, but they ultimately voted 20-6 to allow the   
   school’s plans to proceed.   
      
   The controversy over Trinity Western’s proposed law school fuelled a   
   sensitive and emotional debate about how to balance the beliefs of a   
   private Christian institution with the rights of gays and lesbians.   
      
   It’s the second time in the past 15 years the school has fought — and   
   won — for the right to demand that students adhere to its religious   
   beliefs about sexual orientation and marriage. The university won a   
   similar case at the Supreme Court of Canada in 2001 that focused on   
   whether the school should be permitted to grant teaching degrees in   
   light of its policies related to homosexuality.   
      
   The university’s president, Bob Kuhn, said Friday that the law society’s   
   decision is an important victory — not just for the school but for all   
   Christians across Canada.   
      
   “It’s a great representation of freedom of religion,” Kuhn said in an   
   interview.   
      
   “If the decision had gone the other way, then those who don’t want to   
   see a Trinity Western University law school (would be) discriminating   
   against us on the basis of religion and not showing a tolerant attitude   
   toward people who share a different view on the definition of marriage.”   
      
   Trinity Western says it will be the first Christian university in Canada   
   to open a law school. It plans to enrol about 80 students in the first   
   year of the program.   
      
   Kuhn said prospective students aren’t asked about their sexual   
   orientation during the application process, and he said all students are   
   welcome at the school — as long as they agree to abide by the community   
   covenant.   
      
   “If a gay or lesbian or bi student wished to come to Trinity Western   
   University and wished to comply with the community covenant as it’s   
   written, then there’s no problem,” he said.   
      
   “If the answer would be no, then presumably they would choose another   
   place to do their schooling.”   
      
   In the late 1990s, the British Columbia College of Teachers blocked   
   Trinity Western from granting teaching degrees over the very same issue.   
   At the time, students were required to sign an agreement not to engage   
   in activities that were “biblically condemned,” including “homosexual   
   behaviour.”   
      
   The case went to the Supreme Court of Canada, which overturned the   
   college’s decision and said the British Columbia College of Teachers   
   failed to offer evidence that Trinity Western graduates would go on to   
   discriminate against students in the classroom.   
      
   At Friday’s law society meeting, Vancouver-based constitutional lawyer   
   Joseph Arvay said the school will be effectively putting up a sign at   
   its doors telling gays and lesbians they are not welcome.   
      
   “What I fail to understand is how approving this law school in any way   
   balances the rights of religious freedom and the rights of equality,”   
   Arvay said.   
      
   However, the majority of the speakers at the meeting urged the law   
   society to allow the school to proceed, even as some of them condemned   
   the community covenant.   
      
   Criminal lawyer David Crossin said the school’s decision to press ahead   
   without revising its covenant to respond to concerns about the document   
   was discriminatory, hurtful and hypocritical.   
      
   “In my view, however, the law and the public interest demand recognition   
   of TWU’s right to conduct their affairs in this way,” Crossin said.   
      
   “There is no evidence the ability of the teachers to properly teach will   
   be compromised. There is no evidence the ability of the students to   
   learn and think will be improperly stunted. There is no evidence the   
   graduates will be unable or unwilling to properly serve the public and   
   the administration of justice.”   
      
   Jan Lindsay, president of the Law Society of B.C., declined to comment   
   on the decision, but said the vote followed a thoughtful debate that saw   
   lawyers struggle with competing charter rights.   
   http://globalnews.ca/news/1265708/law-society-clears-path-for-christian-school/   
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