St. Vincent's, an Anglican elementary school in Bedford, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has denied admission to a girl because her parents are lesbians, NBCDFW reports:
"Jill and Tracy Harrison, lesbians married in 2006 in Canada, applied to enroll their daughter into St. Vincent's School, in June.
On the application, they crossed out the word father on the application and wrote mother and put Tracy's name on that line. Jill was written on the mother line.
They attended the school's parent night on Tuesday, and now, just a few days before school starts Monday, the school is denying their daughter Olivia enrollment into the school because her parents are lesbians, the women said…Though the school's handbook and website say that the school is non-discriminatory as to race, color, religion and national or ethnic origin, it doesn't stipulate that they won't discriminate based on the sexual orientation of a child's parents."
NBCDFW notes in its story:
"Our story originally referred to the school as St. Vincent's Episcopal School. Even though the sign at the church says Episopal, they said they have parted with that church and are now Anglican."
The major schism in the Anglican/Episcopal church over the past five years has regarded its positions on gays and gay clergy.
In fact, North American church leaders met at St. Vincent's in 2009 "to launch the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), described as an 'alternative' to the U.S. Episcopal Church within the Anglican Communion."
Said Jill Harrison: "I am horribly disappointed. In fact, we are in the 21st century and we are still dealing with this issue. We should just move on. Denying my daughter education based on who I end up sleeping with at the end of the day makes me furious."