Religion schools get government waiver from discriminating against LGBT students, and still get government money

It’s one thing for private clubs and schools to be allowed to discriminate if they are purely private, getting no funds from the taxpayer nor catering to interstate commerce. It’s another thing entirely for government-funded organizations to be allowed to legally discriminate against people on the basis of religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender. Such behavior may be legal (see below), but it’s immoral, and should be stopped.  And now the Obama administration is handing out permissions to discriminate to colleges funded by the government. (Earlier administrations gave government money to religious schools, but that was illegal, too, though not deemed so by the courts; and we’re talking Democrats here.) Title IX, part of an education bill passed in 1972, prohibits gender discrimination in any institution receiving funds from the US government. It’s been successfully used to promote women’s sports, but also women’s participation in educational activities, clubs, organizations, and the like. It would seem to prohibit discrimination against LGBT students as well, given that it states this:

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

However, the law also has an built-in exemption: if the organization is a religious one, it need not obey Title IX when gender equality “conflicts with the religious tenets” of that organization. And, according to the Washington Post, schools are lining up for exemptions—exemptions allowed while the colleges are still getting taxpayer dosh:

Dozens of religious colleges have sought exemptions in recent years from federal prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation, saying the waivers are needed to protect school policies consistent with their faith, according to a new report.
The government has granted more than 30 of these requests since 2013 [out of 56 requested], the Human Rights Campaign said in a report released Friday. The schools that obtained religious waivers from the anti-discrimination law known as Title IX ranged from Baptist-affiliated Anderson University in South Carolina to Quaker-affiliated George Fox University in Oregon.

Here are the schools that have gotten exemptions on the basis of sexual orientation (I presume this means whether or not you’re gay):

• Anderson University of South Carolina
  
• Baptist College of Florida
  
• Bethel College of Indiana
  
• Blue Mountain College of Mississippi
  
• Charleston Southern University of South Carolina
  
• Covenant College of Georgia
  
• East Texas Baptist University of Texas
  
• Hannibal-LaGrange University of Missouri
  
• Howard Payne University of Texas
  
• Judson College of Alabama
  
• Louisiana College
  
• Mississippi College
  
• North Greenville University of South Carolina
  
• Oklahoma Baptist University
  
• Oklahoma Christian University
  
• Southwest Baptist University of Missouri
  
• Spring Arbor University of Michigan
  
• Toccoa Falls College of Georgia
  
• Union University of Tennessee
  
• University of Mary Hardin-Baylor of Texas
  
• University of Mobile in Alabama
  
• University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky
  
• Williams Baptist College in Arkansas
  

And here are the schools granted exemptions on the basis of gender identity (I presume this means whether you identify as a gender different from your “biological” sex. The schools listed above are included along with these:

• Belmont Abbey College of North Carolina
  
• Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio
  
• Fresno Pacific University of California
  
• George Fox University of Oregon
  
• Northwest Nazarene University of Idaho
  
• Oklahoma Wesleyan University
  
• Simpson University of California
  
• Southern Wesleyan University of South Carolina
  
• St. Gregory University of Oklahoma
  
• Tabor College of Kansas
  

What kind of exemptions are granted? Pretty much the ability to not respect someone’s sexual orientation or self-assigned gender identity. Here’s one statement by a religious school:

“We do not … support or affirm the resolution of tension between one’s biological sex and the experience of gender by the adoption of a psychological identity discordant with one’s birth sex, nor attempts to change one’s birth sex by surgical intervention, nor conduct or dress consistent with an identity other than one’s biological birth sex,” Belmont Abbey President William K. Thierfelder wrote on Jan. 16. “We will make institutional decisions in light of this policy regarding housing, student admission and retention, appropriate conduct, employment, hiring and retention, and other matters.”

A transgender male at George Fox University (a Quaker school!) was denied a request to live with his friends (the person was considered female by the school), with the president noting, ““We also separate the value of each person from the behavioral choices one makes.” As if such things were a choice! But of course that’s what the faithful believe. I would have thought the Quakers were more empathic than that.
This is insupportable, especially because many schools that have these exemptions don’t publicize them. Yes, a private religious school can discriminate all it wants, but once it receives government funding, that discrimination is off the table—whether by sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.  The government should not be funding any such discrimination, which is clearly a violation of the First Amendment. And remember, it’s the Obama Administration that’s granting these exemptions! By all means let a school protect its silly faith-based discrimination, but it has no right to take my money to do so. These exemptions should be ended now.


https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/religion-schools-get-government-waiver-from-discriminating-against-lgbt-students-and-still-get-government-money/