Last month, Washington Elementary Public School District, near Phoenix, ended their ties with Arizona Christian University by prohibiting the school’s student teachers from gaining experience in their schools. Never mind that they’ve been working with ACU for 11 years, or that the state has a severe teacher shortage.

The problem? The students are Christian, and they come from a university which actually lives its Christian worldview. And that was a bridge too far for the Washington Elementary public school board. They felt that having ACU students serve as student teachers wouldn’t be “safe” for LGBT children. Never mind that the district has partnered with the university for 11 years, and that there had been no complaints, either.

How did this all start? Let me introduce you to the cat woman (yes, she wears cat ears) who started it all.

The Queer Black Latina Who Got Arizona Christian Booted

I’m not calling her a pejorative name; Tamillia Valenzuela describes herself as a “bilingual, disabled, neurodivergent Queer Black Latina.” Add to that, anti-Christian.

Screenshot: readlion.com.

She took her seat on the governing board of the Washington Elementary Public School District in December. By February she was already fired up about Christians!

Before the winter break, newly elected Governing Board Members Kyle Clayton and Tamillia Valenzuela took the oath of office. Welcome to our new Governing Board members! #WESDFamily pic.twitter.com/gizmAex2aD

— WESD Schools (@WESDschools) December 31, 2022

During a February school board meeting, Valenzuela launched into a diatribe against Arizona Christian:

My concern is when I go to Arizona Christian University’s website, [they are] ‘committed to Jesus Christ, accomplishing his will and advancements on earth as in Heaven.’

You mean like establishing hospitals, charities, food pantries, etc.? Nope, it’s because ACU supports traditional marriage and sexuality. And that makes her feel “unsafe.”

At some point, we need to get real with ourselves and take a look at who we’re making legal contracts with and the message that is sending to our community. Because that makes me feel like I could not be safe in this school district.

A member of the Washington Elementary School Board in Arizona (wearing cat ears during the meeting) says she opposes an ongoing contract with Arizona Christian University to place their student teachers in schools due to the fact that they espouse Biblical Christian beliefs. pic.twitter.com/qMqtAyvTId

— 1776 Project PAC (@1776ProjectPac) March 3, 2023

Another newly elected board member, Kyle Clayton, also chimed in:

I, too, echo what Ms. Valenzuela said when I… looked into not only their core values, but the statement of faith… [which they] ask their students to sign and live by. Proselytizing is embedded into how they teach. And I just don’t believe that that belongs in schools.

So on February 23, the five-member school board nixed the new five-year contract with Arizona Christian University.

ACU and Its Supporters Strike Back

Arizona Christian University is not slinking away. The Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a lawsuit against Washington Elementary School District on ACU’s behalf.

The lawsuit reads:

[N]ot only did the School District end its agreement with Arizona Christian and its students at the February 23, 2023, board meeting, it disparaged their religious beliefs, questioning how one could ‘be committed to Jesus Christ’ and yet respect LGBTQ students and board members. 

It also added:

Arizona Christian instructs all of its students and staff to respect and abide by the policies of the school districts it cooperates with—including the School District.

Despite there being zero complaints about an Arizona Christian student teacher or alumnus, the School District decided to terminate its relationship with Arizona Christian and its students solely because of their religious status and beliefs on biblical marriage and sexuality.

Not only did the legal eagles of the ADF fire back, angry parents showed up at a school board meeting on Thursday night. Valenzuela’s supporters showed up too, many wearing her signature cat ears as a sign of solidarity, one presumes. Needless to say, things got heated.

Arizona State Official Stands with ACU

Tom Horne, the Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction, weighed in on the controversy. He called the schools district’s actions “religious prejudice.”

If anyone assumes that Tom Horne is an evangelical Christian, they’re wrong. He’s Jewish:

There’s nothing more outrageous than religious prejudice. Prejudice of all kinds have been responsible, in my opinion, for almost all of the evil in the history of humankind…

I’m Jewish, and there’s an old Jewish expression here. ‘He who expects respect, has to give respect.’ And this is an absolutely outrageous violation of people’s religious rights.

Never mind that the Washington Elementary Public School board members don’t understand the Constitution. Or that there is no record of any student teacher from Arizona Christian University impinging upon the rights of an LGBT student. Tamillia Valenzuela knows that these student teachers don’t make these kids “unsafe.” She and her fellow travelers want to stamp out the religious rights of people who believe differently than they do — and Christians are in their crosshairs.

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Featured image: momboleum/flickr/cropped/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.