Greg Baylor reported on the threat to sue Catholic University in Washington D.C. for “discrimination” because it plans to move away from co-ed dorms and have students stay in male-only and female-only dormitories.  Law professor John Banzhaf of George Washington Law School in D.C. is threatening to sue Catholic University for “discrimination” because he equates single sex dorms to illegal racial segregation under the District of Columbia Human Rights Code.

The absurdity and extremeness of his legal theory can be demonstrated by the fact that buildings operated by the District of Columbia blatantly “discriminate” the same way by having “men’s” and “women’s” restrooms.   Shocking, isn’t it?  No, because it demonstrates common sense.  If the District of Columbia government buildings had racially segregated restrooms like those that existed in the past under Jim Crow laws, it would be unconstitutional and morally wrong.  But separate bathrooms or dorm rooms for men and women respect privacy differences.  If Prof. Banzhaf believes in his legal theory so strongly, he should also sue the District of Columbia for the “segregated” restrooms in its public buildings.  He misses the reasonable point that sex and race are not totally interchangeable forms of discrimination.  Many schools have men’s and women’s sports teams, which is morally acceptable and legal, but do not have racially segregated sports team because that would be morally wrong and illegal.

Prof. Banzhaf’s threatened lawsuit against Catholic University also dilutes the concept of civil rights by comparing single sex dorms to racially segregated housing.  It causes “language inflation” by debasing the currency of civil rights concepts.  It becomes difficult to communicate the real moral gravity of racial segregation, when it is compared to a private university having single sex dorms because of the school’s religious beliefs on marriage and proper sexual conduct.  Prof. Benzhaf would be wise to back off of his threats and not file this lawsuit against Catholic University.

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