WMU Professor’s Contract Not Renewed Due to Views on ‘Homosexual Behavior,’ Lawsuit Says

M Live ^ | 3/23/23 | Marie Weidmayer

[marshmallow]

KALAMAZOO, MI – A former adjunct professor is suing Western Michigan University, alleging his right to free speech and religion were violated when his contract was not renewed with the school.

Daniel Mattson alleges his rights under the First and 14th Amendments were violated by employees at WMU, in a lawsuit filed March 20 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

The lawsuit names Dean of College of Fine Arts Daniel Guyette and School of Music professor and former director Keith Kothman as defendants. The current School of Music Director and WMU president are also named as defendants, but their names are not included in the lawsuit.

Mattson, a trombonist, had been an adjunct faculty member at WMU since 1999, playing on the faculty-only Western Brass Quintet, along with the faculty-student Western Winds ensemble.

Since he was a child, Mattson believed he was gay, but converted to Catholicism and left behind his “prior homosexual lifestyle,” in 2009, the lawsuit said. He started writing articles and speaking at public events about how the Catholic Church should engage with “people who experience same-sex attraction.”

Mattson published “Why I Don’t Call Myself Gay: How I Reclaimed My Sexual Reality and Found Peace,” in 2017.

“His writings state his opinion that it is incorrect to label someone as being homosexual or heterosexual, but rather those are labels that describe attractions or behaviors,” the lawsuit said. “He also argues that, while homosexual behavior is sinful and contrary to natural law, homosexual inclinations are not sinful.”

[struggle]

Yeah, you’re born white, black, Asian, etc. You’re born male or female. You aren’t born with a sexual orientation, regardless of what the groomers say

[dfwgator]

Michael Jackson was proof that only in America, can a poor black boy, grow up to be a rich white woman.

[BigB60]

WMU fine arts is a gay factory. I joined my son for his auditions in the music theater program years ago and it became quite clear early in the day that he didn’t stand a ghost of a chance to get into the program. Every male we encountered associated with the program was triggering my “gaydar”. I encounter a female WMU theater performer a year or so later and she confirmed my suspicions. WMU feeds the Chicago and New York theater markets. It has a good reputation with these highly coveted markets. It comes as no surprise that a professor who “switches teams” would get a pink slip.