An instructor at Fresno City College is under fire over his alleged teachings about homosexuality.
The American Civil Liberties Union charged Monday that instructor Bradley Lopez is wrongly presenting religious-based and anti-gay views as fact in an introductory health class, and demanded the campus ensure health-science classes teach unbiased and medically accurate information.
According to the Fresno Bee:
Elizabeth Gill, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, said Lopez is teaching his personal views as science — neglecting the established facts that he should present to students. “Instead of teaching about abortion as an option for women and about the actual health implications, he’s teaching that abortion is murder based on the Bible.”
Gill charged in her letter that Lopez has presented homosexuality as a “biological misapplication of human sexuality” that can be treated with counseling or hormone supplements. He also used Bible passages as empirical evidence that life begins at conception to support his assertion that abortion is murder, she said.
In a section on environmental health, Gill alleged, Lopez offered a biblical quote about the world ending in flames as “the real global warming we should be worried about.”
In a statement released Monday, Fresno City College President Dr. Cynthia Azari said, “The College takes its non-discrimination and prohibition of harassment policies seriously, investigates alleged violations and takes appropriate actions to enforce compliance. Beyond that, we don’t comment on personnel matters for confidentiality reasons.”
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Azari said officials are conducting an investigation into allegations by students filed in December.
Because the class is taught at a publicly funded college, the ACLU contends that such lectures violate federal and state constitutional protections that guarantee the separation of church and state.
