Trying to figure out Christ's chromosomes may have been unusual, but student Jacqueline Maheffy said Lopez offended her and others when he said homosexuality was a disease. "I was very upset about the homosexuality part to think that this man would be telling me that my gay and lesbian friends which I have quite a few of are ruining the world, are degrading society."
Students said Lopez also equates abortion with murder, and uses the bible as proof. Lopez admitted as much in a recent address he made at Fresno's People's Church and posted online.
In the video Lopez said he used biblical references to prove life begins at conceptions. He goes on to describe student reactions. "I wish you could sit next to me and see the eyeballs when they get that big ... Hey you can't read that in school. That may be true in K-12 but it doesn't exist in college yet. So, if you find me strung up somewhere, you'll know what happened. "
The American Civil Liberties Union disagrees that Lopez has free rein in college, and Attorney Elizabeth Gill said the ACLU wants the college to tell Lopez to teach, and not preach. "We're asking Fresno City College to insure that all of its health instruction is unbiased and medically accurate and it needs to stop religious indoctrination from taking place in the classroom under both the Federal and State Constitutions."
In response to a letter the ACLU sent to the school, Fresno City College issued a written statement saying, "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."
Students tell us they complained to administrators and got no response. The ACLU has given Fresno City College one week to respond with a plan to correct the problem.
