Pence defends wife’s teaching job at school that bars gays

WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence says the criticism of Christian education in America should stop.

Pence is responding to media reports of his wife returning to teach at a school that says it can refuse to employ gay and lesbian teachers or enroll children with gay or lesbian parents.

Karen Pence is teaching at Immanuel Christian School in northern Virginia.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights advocacy group, criticized the move as an example of the Pences showing their public service “only extends to some.”

But Pence says on the Catholic news network EWTN in an interview that aired Thursday that America has a rich tradition of religious education and that “to see major news organizations attacking Christian education is deeply offensive to us.”