It's OK to have an opinion as long as it matches ours. But we have to swallow them teaching that it is OK for Sally to have two mom's?

Hutch's kids go to school with mine. He is a fun guy to talk with. Played for the hawks way back when.

Tuesday, June 7, 2005

Teachers union objects to Hutcherson's church on school grounds
Antioch pastor should find new meeting place, leader says

By JOHN IWASAKI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

About 3,500 people regularly attend Sunday services at Antioch Bible Church, making it one of the larger congregations in the Seattle area, but the church doesn't have a permanent home.

For the past six years, Antioch has met at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, an arrangement that keeps the church out of mortgage debt and provides the Lake Washington School District with about $140,000 in annual rental income.

But the teachers union wants to end that relationship, saying the district shouldn't associate with the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, Antioch's outspoken pastor, who claimed credit for Microsoft's former opposition to a gay rights bill in the state Legislature.

The union leadership says Hutcherson's presence at Lake Washington High implies that his beliefs are condoned by the district, goes against the district's human dignity policy, brings unwanted attention to the school and promotes intolerance.

"The Lake Washington Education Association strongly condemns the bigoted views of Dr. Ken Hutcherson," union President Kevin Teeley wrote in the organization's recent newsletter.

While conceding that Antioch has the legal right to meet at the high school, Teeley called for public pressure to force Hutcherson off campus. Teeley has received a mixed response from his 1,500-member union.

Hutcherson is unequivocal. Because Teeley, who is openly gay, has called the pastor a bigot, "Can't I say he's the prejudiced one?" Hutcherson asked.

Teeley said his views are based on union policies and have nothing to do with his sexual orientation.

Lake Washington Superintendent Don Saul said the district has received about 12 to 15 letters questioning the district's position "in what they characterize as an 'environment of discrimination.' "



The district response is that free-speech rights control the issue.

"It comes down to almost an all-or-nothing situation, based on First Amendment jurisprudence," Saul said. "If we rent a facility for the use of a church, we can't typically restrict access to another group with which we have disagreements (over) the point of view they're expressing."

More than 10 churches rent district facilities, said Barbara Posthumus, the district's business services coordinator. Because of complaints about Antioch, the district is reviewing its rental policy, she said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington receives about two complaints per year regarding a church's use of public schools.

State law requires school districts to make their facilities available to community groups, including religious organizations, when the facilities are not being used for school-related activities or programs.

Lake Washington gives top priority to school-sponsored activities, then to cities and non-profit youth organizations within the district. Non-profit adult organizations, including churches, have fourth priority. The district's policy states that authorization of facility use should not be considered an endorsement of the renter or its purposes.

The district bases its rental fee on a formula that considers space, time, utilities and custodial services. Antioch uses most of Lake Washington High for two Sunday services and pays $10,800 per month, or $13,500 for months with five Sundays. Besides the gymnasium, the church uses about 30 classrooms for Sunday school, a nursery and other activities.

Former Lake Washington High librarian Lee Bates, now at Inglewood Junior High, addressed the school board last night, upset at the treatment of a group of gay rights supporters who visited Antioch.

The activists were told they would have to sit in a separate section unless they removed their rainbow armbands. The visitors eventually chose to remove their armbands and sat wherever they wanted.

"It is not about the pastor's beliefs but his treatment of people that is in question," said Bates, husband of former Lake Washington Superintendent Karen Bates.

He cited the district's human dignity and harassment policies, which encourage respect and non-harassment of people, regardless of their sexual orientation, among other differences or characteristics.

In an earlier interview, School Board President Doug Eglington said the dignity policy pertains to how the district operates and to its employees, students and stakeholders.

"We don't feel we have the reach" to tell other organizations how to conduct themselves, he said. "We'd rather err on the side of allowing the community to use the spaces to the extent possible," he said.

Several Lake Washington High teachers said they feel like they can't criticize Antioch's presence because principal Mark Robertson attends the church.

Hutcherson said that if Antioch's relationship ever became detrimental to the school, "Mark would be the first to ask us to move. That's the kind of responsibility I expect from him."