Hello friends,

Last week, we talked about KOSA and why it needs to be stopped before it’s used as an excuse to discriminate against Queer people, Black people, PoC, or anyone else that Fascist interests might decide are “harmful to children.”  We know the Christo-Fascist approach is to target anything LGBTQIA+ as “harmful,” but what happens when they’re worried they might do some actual harm to actual people, such as - say - sexual harassment?

They file for religious exemptions!

Our case-study today is Baylor University, a private Baptist establishment in Texas that claims to educate students. It’s a place I honestly hadn’t given much thought to, until I came across a tweet by the Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP), an organization I’d never heard of until today.  REAP does a lot of things, but like its name indicates it keeps track of religious exemptions that various ‘educational’ institutions use to get around regulations.

REAP’s thread is pretty detailed, but to break it down:  The Biden Administration’s Department of Education is allowing Baylor to ignore Title IX rules against sexual harassment - I guess in the name of their God or something?  I guess their religion just requires sexual harassment against people?  Or maybe the sexual harassment is okay when it’s done in God’s name, like how marrying children is okay for some Christo-Fascists because it’s a covenant before God or whatever?

I don’t know, and if you couldn’t tell I am pissed as all hell.  Forget the usual gentility to which I tend to topics:  This is fucked up, and I demand consequences.

I Mean, Where Do You Begin With The Biden Administration Allowing Sexual Harassment At Baylor University?

Basically, to me, the only acceptable solution to this grievous error is the overwhelming application of immediate termination for cause, plus legal liability for anyone who is harmed due to the Department of Education allowing sexual harassment at Baylor.  But who would we demand the Biden administration fire from their jobs?  Let’s start with the Department Of Education (DoE), where terminations need to take place.

This may serve as something of an exercise on how to track down a person/people responsible for negative change, and how to hold them accountable.

I have no idea what level within the DoE this issue reached up to, but REAP’s thread indicates Baylor’s request was sent to the DoE’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR).  The OCR’s about page doesn’t list people who are in charge - I guess because they don’t want it to be easy for people to complain about them? - so we’ll dig a step sideways.  I hopped to Google and searched for personnel in that department and came upon this page which had previously not shown me any satisfactory information.

So now we’ve learned that Catherine E. Lhamon is the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, meaning this whole department falls under her responsibility.  Therefore, this “Sexual harassment is okay at Baylor” approval ultimately falls under her jurisdiction.  This means, so far, we can determine she deserves some repercussions for failing, at the very least, to manage her subordinates.

A little further digging - in this case, by searching the site for the term “Religious exemption” -  reveals this website, which talks about how exemptions are approved.  They are, indeed, executed under the direction of Assistant Secretary Catherine E. Lhamon.  I’m upgrading my outlook:  She needs to be fired with no benefits for cause, and held liable in the event that Baylor’s permission to allow sexual harassment leads to anyone being - you know - harassed.

In fact: REAP had already done my homework for me, I just checked into this independently. Yes - it was Lhamon who signed off on it.

All of this malfeasance, of course, occurs within the context of the DoE at large and under the eyes of Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, and his management of his departments.  As a former teacher, I have to respect the path this man climbed to get where he is - one look at his resume and I’m impressed.  But he also appointed an utter failure as a subordinate.  That might not be grounds to terminate his employment, but it’s certainly grounds for repercussions, since Lhamon was allowed to do what she did.  Some sort of warning needs to be issued:  “You allow something like this to happen again, and you’re fired on the spot.”I’d say he needs to be investigated by Congress, but for all I know the House of Representatives will cheer him on.  “Sexual Harassment in the name of our God?!  WONDERFUL!” I can already hear Matt Gaetz singing.

Then There’s Biden Himself.

According to REAP, this is the first time that such an exemption has ever been sought, and the first time it has been granted.  This wasn’t something that became standard-issue under the Trump administration and continued on under the Biden administration, in spite of Biden’s best efforts or what-have-you.  This is a Biden Administration First.

It needs to be a Biden Administration last.

Biden needs to come out and publicly denounce this decision - retract it if he can, or make clear it will not be renewed in the future if he cannot.  He must publicly denounce Lhamon and Cardona for their involvement in this scandal.  He must promise he will do better.

And he must be held accountable with our votes.

If there is any one thing we have seen from the Christo-Fascist elements trying to take control of our country, it’s that they will use any leverage given to them to its maximum.  What happens when they appeal for a Title IX exemption to - I don’t know - prohibit Queer students from attending their university at all?  What happens when they cite their God to prohibit students who have premarital sex from attending - knowing that the only easy way to catch that is when a female student turns up pregnant?

And, let’s remember, that’s not a situation where consent is guaranteed.  After all, if “Sexual Harassment” is acceptable, then we have to ask, “What will they count as sexual harassment?”  Words?  Touching?  Forced penetration?  Full-fledged rape?  With the clever padding of facts, anything is possible.  After all, it’s not like religious institutions don’t preach to young women about forgiving their rapists under the guise of educational and career opportunities.

Biden cannot be so stupid as to not understand this, or he should not be President in the first place.  If he thinks I’m being too harsh?  If you, President Biden, read this article and think I’m being too harsh:  Hey, President Harris has always sounded better to me, and your retirement is one signature away.  Sign, and I pretty much disappear.

Until then, you will be held accountable for your subordinates’ cataclysmic, sexual harassment permitting behaviors.

So What Needs To Change?

Frankly, Biden needs to be clear that no further exemptions will be granted on religious grounds.  In all honesty?  I kind of mean all of them.  Oh, I’m sure there are some edge cases that I could see being justified, but until “Sexual harassment is okay” is well and clearly ruled out?  Nada.  None of ‘em.  Don’t grant a single exemption.  When they bitch about the First Amendment, remind them that we don’t establish religion over laws that they need to follow.

If you tell me, “This is what private Religious education looks like” - if you tell me that sexual harassment MUST exist in a religious school - then my vote is that the religious schools shouldn’t exist.  It simply should not.  No charters, no accreditation, no waivers whatsoever.  Your institution gets secularized under a public charter.  Over and done.  The First Amendment says the government may not establish religion, and granting waivers to laws protecting students from sexual harassment is the same as establishing a religious right to sexually harass.

This is, honestly, how I feel about any contest between religion and the government.  I recently lost a friend when the Supreme Court legalized discrimination against Queer people.  Not only did he complain about how Christians feel about dealing with Queer people in secular society, but he quoted Biblical passages at me that were all about Sodom and Gomorroah and other such lovely Queer Genocide sentiments.

The government cannot put in place anything that prohibits you from practicing your faith, sure.  But when it comes to the bigotries you read in your faith, they don’t get to supplant my legal right to exist as an independent person in society.

Biden needs to come out swinging and make that clear.

In Other News

Thank you for reading The Progressive Cafe.  If this article has helped you, please consider signing up for our mailing list.  This article is by Jesse Pohlman, a sci-fi/fantasy author from Long Island, New York, whose website you can check out here.