I have been receiving many emails regarding tonight's agenda item about terminating our successful relationship with Gordon College because of the college president's position regarding sexual orientation bias. This is my response to those emails and position going into tonight's meeting if this is of concern to you. I am not putting this out there to begin discussion. I have a busy day at work and will not have time to respond to comments prior to tonight's meeting. REPLY: "Thank you for your email. While I appreciate your comments and I totally understand your concerns, I will tell you that if it all possible, I would like to explore alternatives to preserving our very successful relationship with the students of Gordon in a manner that separates them as individuals from the current opinion of the school president in regards to GLBT discrimination. I have given this much thought and have had discussions with folks on both sides of the issue. I also look forward to tonight's discussion as we meet and discuss this for the first time as a collective body. I do plan to add my own commentary and ideas to insure that we are not "throwing out the baby with the bathwater".
Many of our staff, elected officials, students and parents are practicing members of religious organizations such as the Catholic Church among others whose leadership may share the same beliefs as Gordon's president regardless of personal opinion. Gordon students work with LPS on a volunteer basis and no money changes hands. I am concerned that if we terminate the relationship with Gordon students yet continue to hire and elect individuals who are practicing members of organizations that at the top, harbor the same feelings towards sexual orientation as Gordon's, we may be creating a double standard, leading us down a slippery slope.
Personally, I am hopeful that this issue being brought to the surface will bring about dialogue within the Gordon community that will change the official stance of Gordon College regarding this issue. In my opinion, I believe that over time, most if not all Christian organizations will change their opinions regarding GLBT and welcome all as children of God. I am a member of a reconciling church that after a lot of discussion and turmoil within the upper leadership in the Methodist Church years ago, we as many other Methodist churches voted as individual churches to be open to all regardless of sexual orientation. I think in time, others will do the same."
Rick Starbard
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