Courtney Jones attempts to make a case that the state of Maine has no right to withhold funding for tuition to religious schools (“Commentary: Maine must stop trying to bypass Supreme Court decision on schools,” April 4). Jones says Maine rejects religious schools “for their beliefs that the state doesn’t like.”
It’s interesting that she purposely omits any mention of what the beliefs are which, when practiced by some religious schools, makes them ineligible for state funding. She doesn’t include the fact that in some private religious schools the folks demanding help from the state for tuition at the same time steadfastly refuse to accommodate one or more of the provisions of the Maine Human Rights Act.
This state law prohibits discrimination because of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, genetic pre-disposition, religion, ancestry or national origin. The big stumbling block seems to arise when neither gay or lesbian students or teachers are welcome in some religious schools.
Sorry, but when a school fails to comply with the Maine Human Rights Act, it doesn’t qualify to receive state funding.
Linda Snow McLoon
Portland
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