Karen Pence Returns to Teach at School Known for Anti-LGBTQ Views

Karen Pence has accepted a part-time position teaching art at Immanuel Christian School in Virginia, a private institution that does not accept gay students and demands that employees agree to define marriage as “the uniting of one man and one woman,” The New York Times reports.

Those who wish to teach at the Immanuel Christian School must sign their initials next to a number of statements. The eighth statement on the institution’s “Articles of Employment,” according to The Times, reads “I understand that the term ‘marriage’ has only one meaning; the uniting of one man and one woman.” Meanwhile, “heterosexual activity outside of marriage (e.g., premarital sex, cohabitation, extramarital sex), homosexual or lesbian sexual activity, polygamy, transgender identity, any other violation of the unique roles of male and female” are forbidden.

In addition, a 2013 application for potential school employees stated that “homosexual acts and lifestyles are clearly perversion and reprehensible in the sight of God. Persons so involved cannot be employees of Immanuel Christian School.” That language is no longer present in the application, according to The Times.

The Times was unable to confirm if Mrs. Pence had to apply for the job, and a spokeswoman for the second lady refused to answer questions about her personal beliefs.

Mrs. Pence previously taught at the school from 2001 and 2013. “Mrs. Pence has returned to the school where she previously taught for 12 years,” Kara Brooks, the second lady’s communications director, told The New York Times. “It’s absurd that her decision to teach art to children at a Christian school, and the school’s religious beliefs, are under attack.”

Private schools are not subject to employment discrimination laws, unlike their public counterparts.