CO volleyball coach says he lost Christian high school job after refusing to 'denounce being gay'

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, commenter Halou at Joe.My.God.

Halou • 41 minutes ago

OT-ish.
School forced a volleyball coach out of his position for not denouncing homosexuality.

Colorado volleyball coach says he lost Christian high school job after refusing to "denounce being gay."

Link to tweet

Colorado volleyball coach says he lost Christian high school job after refusing to 'denounce being gay'

Valor Christian High School said "a separation is appropriate" because of former coach Inoke Tonga's views "pertaining to sexuality and marriage."

Aug. 26, 2021, 4:40 PM EDT
By David K. Li

A religious high school in Colorado forced a volleyball coach out of his post after it learned his sexual orientation and told him the only path forward was to "denounce being gay," the man said Thursday.

Officials at Valor Christian High School, in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch, acknowledged that they confronted coach Inoke Tonga over his beliefs "pertaining to sexuality and marriage" but contend that he walked away on his own accord.

{snip}

Some Valor Christian students walked out of class this week in support of Tonga and Lauren Benner, a former Valor girls lacrosse coach who came forward after Tonga's ouster became pubic and said she, too, was pushed out of her post last year because of sexual orientation.

Tonga said last week's sudden departure hasn't shaken his Christian faith.

"Being gay, in the LGBTQ+ community and identifying as Christian can co-exist," said Tonga, who also coaches local club volleyball. "That's what I want to stress to my kids."

LOCAL NEWS

After 2 Valor Christian coaches were questioned about being gay, students protest school's policy

When Lauren Benner had a meeting with school administrators, she thought she was getting a pay raise – instead, she said she was asked if she was dating a woman.

Author: Katie Eastman, Marc Sallinger (9 News)

Published: 7:47 PM MDT August 24, 2021
Updated: 10:13 PM MDT August 24, 2021

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Her 3 p.m. Friday meeting was on her calendar and Lauren Benner was expecting a pay raise an a title change when she went to meet with her bosses at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

That meeting was nearly three years ago, but the former lacrosse coach and athletic administrator remembers the details clearly.

{snip}

Lauren Benner, Louisville Cardinals

{snip}

Year At Louisville: First
Birthday: December 27
Education: Bachelor’s Degree (Virginia, ’10); Master's Degree (Denver, '12)
Hometown: Arnold, Md.

Athletic Career
• Spent four years as a goalie at Virginia
• Helped lead the Cavaliers to four NCAA appearances, a pair of ACC championships (2007, 2008) and one NCAA Final appearance (2007)
• Named to the IWLCA All-South Regional team and VaSID All-State Team her senior year
• ACC Athletic Honor Roll (2007–2009); Dean’s List University of Virginia (2008)
• Having redshirted her second year at UVA, went on to pursue her fifth year of eligibility at Denver
• Named to the IWLCA Honor Roll her fifth year; Dean’s List University of Denver (2011)
• Member of Team STX since 2013; an elite post-collegiate women’s lacrosse team representing the STX brand nationally and internationally (England Summer 2015)

{snip}

[Haggard Celine]

1. Gay people who work in most Christian schools

are in for a world of hurt. They pretty much have to live in the closet in order to keep their jobs. It's good that this has gotten attention, though. Maybe some parents will pressure the schools to do away with their discriminatory policies. Unfortunately, I don't think we have a USSC that would uphold laws to make these firings illegal.

[JT45242]

2. Most of these schools have it written into their contract what you believe and mustdo (or don't do)

I had a friend send me an application for a job at her local kkkristian school because she knows that I was a science teacher for a long time and that I am a lay leader for our church (which apparently she does not know is an open and affirming congregation).

The application has a long list of things that I would consider to be bad doctrine and views antithetical to Christ's teaching so I politely declined. If the teacher signed one of those documents, unfortunately he doesn't have a leg to stand on. Unfortunately, the EEOC protections do not apply to religious schools especially if the language is explicit in the contract.

These doctrines and policies are destructive and against the real tecahings of Jesus who condemned the love and pursuit of money and power but has no known utterance about homosexuality in either the canon or apocrypha.

I know gay people who have taken jobs at schools like these before because they were in a glut area (English, elementary education, social studies) and hoped that it would not become an issue before they got a job in a public school where they would be protected by the EEOC.

[lambchopp59]

3. Kkkristians

I've had it up to here with them.
From witnessing a vehicle that didn't stop for an ambulance attempting a left turn, sirens blaring just yesterday, then there it was: the cowboy-cross window decal and of course, the blue Trump 2020 bumper sticker.
I've had the sort throw things at my truck, scream insults and other minor snubs reflecting tribalism during my time here in the midwest. I'm a California fire refugee with too many risk factors to take even my fully vaccinated chances with Delta COVID. I'm here because I need to drive my oldest brother to surgery soon.
Yet once again I'll be glad to leave this beautiful mountain region behind because it's so marred by Trumper assholes, somehow believing Jesus taught them to snap judge and hate.
After all, God's pick for president will crack the sky, appear alongside WHITE Jeebus and be re-instated to office Jan 6th. Oops, no, Feb 15th. Oops, no, March 30th. Oops, no, April 10th. Oops, no, May 20th. Oops, no, June. Oops. July. Oops, August. Oops.
No one knows the date and time.... but it's gonna happen!!!!
🤯