By Cloie Swain / Staff Writer

By Cloie Swain / Staff Writer

Gay or straight, African American or Caucasian, male or female, there is no such thing as selective equality.

It is an all or nothing concept, and as long as we allow sort of equality to even have a bit of footing, we are failing what principals the United States was built on.

Unfortunately for a pre-schooler and kindergartner in Boulder Colorado, equality was not shown to them when it was revealed to school officials that their parents are a lesbian couple.

According to Archbishop Charles Chaput, the children are not allowed to continue their education at the Sacred Heart of Jesus parish school because their parents do not adhere to the Catholic teachings that forbid sexual encounters between anyone but married heterosexuals.

Along with being blatantly bigoted, it is also quite stunning. After so many protests, marches, and iconic figures that the American civil rights movement has produced, small children are now being kicked out of school because their parents have a different sexual orientation than what has been deemed acceptable by a religious institution.

But therein lies exactly where the problem with the indignant argument arrives: it is a religious institution.

It is not a state run school, nor is it a run of the mill private school. It is a Catholic school.

The lines get blurred a bit here as this point of contention. As it is not government funded, nor does it have really any answering to do to outraged private school parents who fund the school, there is nobody but the media and maybe some civil rights groups to be held accountable by.

That will most likely be pointed out in the coming weeks as the story continues to develop, but the important thing to consider when mulling over this is the fact that it is not the parents who are losing out here, the children are.

Because their parents are living what some deem an alternative lifestyle, these kids have to face the prospect of going to a new school.

They are being punished for what the church is apparently considering their parents’ crimes.

Now as many writers and television talking heads will be bemoaning the decision (or praising it depending on how much they enjoy equality), the bigger issue of fairness comes into light yet again on America’s news radar.

With the passing of Proposition 8 in 2008, a shift of sorts was seen in the United States. From the controversial “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy in the military to the more prominent issue of marriage equality, gay rights have become what some are dubbing the new civil rights movement.

The abhorrent legal treatment of same sex couples is not a new concept, but in the past the actions have always resulted in effects for adults, not kids.

Now that innocent children are getting mixed up in all of this, there has to be a shift in the American public passiveness.

It is not right to remove children from their school based on their parent’s personal sexual preferences. There can be no compromise on this. Children should not be punished for the lives of their parents.

On the other hand, it is the right of each privately run church school to decide who to let enroll in their classes, and if they decide to forbid homosexuals from sending their children there, so be it. It is not right but it will not change.

What can change is what America takes away from this civil rights abomination.

While those two little girls will have to go to a new school and their parents will continue to be blamed by the church as the reason for it, we need to open our eyes to the fact that has been simmering ever since Prop. 8 was put on the ballot: equality does not select who it covers.

For many that is a legally recognized and respected family, but because 52 percent of California voters decided that their personal beliefs should have a say in someone else’s life, that dream now is unattainable for same sex couples here.

To be blunt, it is despicable how gay Americans are being treated in the name of protecting marriage. Why not go one step further and ban divorce? Why not make it mandatory that all shotgun Vegas weddings be banned? Why is it that some loving devoted couples are banned from legalizing their love, while drunken idiots can literally get a drive-thru wedding in five minutes?

Discrimination based on any reason is ridiculous and archaic. But using the democratic system of government to further hateful “Marriage Protection” acts to make homosexuals second class citizens is abhorrent. Something has to give.

So when the next year rolls around for those little girls, they will be going to a new school and chances are they will be fine.

But if that new year begins and not everyone has the ability to do what others can because of their sexual orientation, then we are still not the country that we think ourselves to be

The abhorrent legal treatment of same sex couples is not a new concept, but in the past the actions have always resulted in affects for grown adults, not kids.

But now that innocent children are getting mixed up in all of this, there has to be a shift in the American public passiveness.

It is not right to remove children from their school based on their parents personal sexual preferences.

There can be no compromise on this. Children should not be punished for the lives of their parents.

On the other hand, it is the right of each privately run church school to decide who to let enroll in their classes, and if they decide to forbid homosexuals from sending their children there, so be it. It is not right, but it will not change.

What can change is what America takes away from this civil rights abomination.

While those two little girls will have to go to a new school and their parents will continue to be blamed by the Church as the reason for it, we need to open our eyes to the fact that has been simmering ever since Prop. 8 was put on the ballot: equality does not select who it covers.

Gay or straight, African American or Caucasian, male or female, there is no such thing as selective equality.

It is an all or nothing concept, and as long as we allow “sort of equality” to even have a bit of footing, we are failing what principals the United States was built on.

Being able to call the United States the “Land of Opportunity” implies that here there is a people who are all striving to help, to create a place where everyone has a fair shake at their dreams.

For many that is a legally recognized and respected family, but because 52% of California voters decided that their personal beliefs should have a say in someone else’s life, that dream now is unattainable for same sex couples here.

To be blunt, it is despicable how gay Americans are being treated in the name of protecting marriage.

Why not go one step further and ban divorce? Why not make it mandatory that all shotgun Vegas weddings be banned?

Why is it that some loving devoted couples are banned from legalizing their love, while drunken idiots can literally get a drive-thru wedding in five minutes?

Discrimination based on any reason is ridiculous and archaic.

But using the democratic system of government to further hateful “Marriage Protection” acts to make homosexuals second class citizens is abhorrent. Something has to give.

So when the next year rolls around for those little girls, they will be going to a new school and chances are they will be fine.

But if that new year begins and not everyone has the ability to do what others can because of their sexual orientation, then we are still not the country that we think ourselves to be.