ABOVE: Photograph courtesy of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project (Photography by Kevin Truong)
A federal lawsuit filed at the end of this past March seeks to nullify the religious exemption to Title IX that allows widespread discrimination against LGBTQ students at faith-based colleges and universities across the nation.
On May 13, an Evangelical association of religious schools, colleges and universities petitioned the court to be named as co-defendant, calling the suit “frivolous.”
The Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP), a Portland, Oregon- based non-profit filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, against the U.S. Department of Education on behalf of 33 plaintiffs from 25 evangelical & LDS colleges in 18 states.
The plaintiffs include a mix of current students (some of whom are using a pseudonym for their safety), recently expelled students and recent alumni who suffered conversion therapy and other discipline from their colleges for being LGBTQ.
“When taxpayer-funded religious institutions require sexual and gender minority students to hide their identity out of fear, or to behave contrary to their fundamental sexual or gender identity, the unsurprising consequences are intense pain, loneliness and self-harm,” the lawsuit states.
“The 25 evangelical and LDS colleges our plaintiffs attend or recently attended, receive billions in taxpayer funding from the U.S. Department of Education but claim to be exempt from Title IX’s protections for LGBTQ students,” said Paul Southwick, Attorney and Director of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project.
“Our lawsuit asks a federal court to declare that the religious exemption to Title IX, as applied to a class of LGBTQ+ students attending the more than 200 religiously affiliated colleges in the United States that openly discriminate against them, using taxpayer dollars, is unconstitutional. It is a violation of the First Amendment’s prohibition on the establishment of religion and a violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments’ guarantee of Equal Protection under the law for LGBTQ+ Americans,” Southwick added.
Should the exemption in Title IX be eliminated, religious schools with policies deemed discriminatory would not be eligible for federal funds.
The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) filed a motion this week with the federal court asking to be named co-defendants in the case. The Washington D.C.- based Evangelical association, which represents more than 180 Christian faith schools in the U.S. and Canada and more than 30 from 19 other countries, additionally filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
In a statement given to Christianity Today magazine, CCCU president Shirley Hoogstra said the lawsuit is frivolous and the Christian colleges and universities are clearly eligible for religious exemptions.
“CCCU institutions subscribe to sincerely held biblical beliefs, which include specific religious convictions around human sexuality and gender, and are transparent about their policies and behavior guidelines, which students voluntarily agree to when they choose to attend the institution,” she said.
The Reverend Alba Onofrio, co-executive director of Soulforce, the non-profit organization that sponsors REAP noted in a statement, “As a Christian minister, I believe we should all be outraged that the Word of God is being used for such widespread evil and systemic violence.”
“The toxic theologies of white Christian Supremacy have real consequences on the lives and education of LGBTQI people across the country. This isn’t about hurt feelings over being denied wedding cakes or bouquets. This case clearly shows how some Christian institutions have stolen the God of love and life and replaced good theologies with violent ones that cause harm to the minds, bodies, and spirits of this nation’s young people,” she added.
In briefs filed with the court, lawyers for CCCU write “ [CCCU] denies that any of its Christian College or University members abuse or provide unsafe conditions to thousands of LGBTQ+ students, or injure them mind, body, or soul, but rather seek to minister, support, and care for them physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. Plaintiffs cite no evidence to support their allegations of abuse and harm.”
“Regarding the merits of the CCCU motion, other religious colleges and institutions raised many of the same First Amendment issues in the 1980s when they defended their racist policies on the basis of sincerely held religious beliefs. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected those arguments in 1983 in the case of Bob Jones University v. United States, and courts should reject them again now. The government is not required to subsidize discrimination, whether the discrimination is on the basis of race or on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity,” Southwick told the Blade in an email Friday.
“CCCU’s motion also misuses the Bible as a cruel sword, citing verses prohibiting adultery. But what does adultery have to do with the health and safety of LGBTQ+ students? These students are not sinful, their identities and relationships are not evil. They should not be compared to adulterers and the discrimination against them should not be justified by Bible versus taken out of context to condemn them as perverse and deserving of death. True religious freedom does not harm its neighbors or its children. And a country that truly cares about equal treatment for all people should not allow religious institutions to use taxpayer money to mistreat and commit violence against the young LGBTQ+ people in their care,” he added.
During the former Trump Administration, then U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos oversaw implementation of strengthening the religious exemption to Title IX.
“Our actions will protect the constitutional rights of students, teachers, and faith-based institutions,” DeVos said at the time in a press release. “The Department’s efforts will level the playing field between religious and non-religious organizations competing for federal grants, as well as protect First Amendment freedoms on campus and the religious liberty of faith-based institutions.”
