Christian schools are justified in continuing to exclude gay teachers under certain circumstances, this according to the highest advisory body in the Netherlands, the Council of State.
 

In an advisory paper prepared for the cabinet and leaked to the newspaper Nederlands Dagblad, the Council argues that although schools are not allowed to discriminate, they do have a right to make specific demands of their staff under certain conditions.

The case arose last month when a Christian primary school in the Dutch town of Emst suspended a teacher after he came out as being homosexual. The school board said the teacher's sexual orientation conflicts with the foundation and the mission of the school.

Although private schools do exist in the Netherlands, the overwhelming majority of religious schools are state funded in the same way as non-denominational schools. 

Wide margin
According to the Council of State, religious schools have a wider margin of freedom to make "professional demands" as long as these do not amount to discrimination.

In other words, demands can be made relating to a teacher's behaviour in and out of school if they clearly relate to the religious or philosophical founding principles of the school. They must be "substantial, legitimate and justified" in terms of loyalty to those principles.

The Council suggests scrapping the "single fact" construction. The anti-discrimination Universal Equal Treatment Act (AWGB) states that even religious schools are not allowed to sack an employee because of the "single fact" of a homosexual nature or a homosexual relationship but can make a distinction on the grounds of "additional circumstances". It has never been clear exactly where the boundary between distinction and discrimination lies.
 

Advice sought
Late last year the three government coalition parties, Christian Democrats, Labour and Christian Union, asked the Council of State for advice since they were unable to agree whether the law regarding discrimination against homosexuals needed amending.

Education Minister Ronald Plasterk made it clear at the time that, as far as he was concerned, schools had no right to dismiss teachers for being openly gay. His party, Labour, is now concerned about the Council's advice and has reiterated that there can be no discrimination against homosexuals, whether for "being" or for "acting" gay.

Opposition parties D66 and GreenLeft are also critical of the Council's stance which they regard as an unjustified extension of religious schools' rights. The small right wing Christian party SGP has welcomed the advice as underlining the freedom of education.

What do you think? Are schools allowed to discriminate against gay teachers where you live?
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