Karen Pence, wife of the vice president, has picked up a new job at Immanuel Christian School in Virginia, where she’ll be teaching art. The bigger story for the rest of us, though, is how that school bans anyone — students or parents — for “participating in, supporting, or condoning sexual immorality, homosexual activity or bi-sexual activity.” No gay people allowed… at least if they ever act on it.

The school also requires prospective employees to promise to live a life of moral purity. By their definition, that excludes transgender people. In fact, even acknowledging the existence of a trans identity goes against the requirement to accept the “unique roles of male and female.”

It’s exactly what you’d expect from a Pence.

A spokesperson for the Second Lady, naturally, lashed out against reporters who dared to even ask questions about any of this.

In response to requests for comment on the school’s hiring practices and admissions policies, a spokesperson for Mrs. Pence noted that she also previously taught at the school for 12 years, while her husband was in Congress. The couple’s daughter Charlotte Pence attended the school, according to the school’s website. “It’s absurd that her decision to teach art to children at a Christian school, and the school’s religious beliefs, are under attack,” said Kara Brooks, spokeswoman for the second lady.

The religious beliefs aren’t under attack. It’s the bigotry people are talking about. For Brooks to assume those are the same thing says more about Pence’s religion than anything about her critics.

The contract also asks prospective hires an open-ended question about their “view of the creation/evolution debate.” I’m guessing “Evolution won a long time ago” is the wrong answer.

Another disturbing aspect of the parent contract is that the school is allowed to “refuse admission” or expel a student based on conduct inside their home — conduct that includes “homosexual activity” and watching porn. How exactly does the school plan to enforce this? Routine bedroom checks to make sure married couples aren’t hiding adult magazines? Checking everyone’s browser histories? Lie detector tests?

Who even knows what “sexual immorality” means these days, since the current president can make it his hobby, and evangelicals still say he’s sent by God.

Karen Pence is working at a school Donald Trump could never even set foot in. But neither could a lot of Christians who support marriage equality or who happen to be transgender. The school has every right to set its own rules, but it’s troubling that the wife of the vice president would still find such a school worthy of her time. Her decision deserves to be scrutinized, along with the hypocrisy she displays by supporting Trump and this administration despite claiming to follow Jesus.

(Screenshot via YouTube)

