In Hunter
v. United States Department
of Education, (D OR, Jan. 12, 2023), an Oregon federal district
court dismissed a suit brought by students who have attended a religious
college or university challenging the application of the religious exemption in
Title IX in a manner that allows religious colleges and universities to
discriminate against LGBTQ students. Rejecting plaintiffs' equal protection
claim, the court said in part:
“Plaintiffs
have not alleged how the religious exemption fails intermediate scrutiny.
Defendants point out that the Ninth Circuit has recognized “that free exercise
of religion and conscience is undoubtedly, fundamentally important.”...
Exempting religiously controlled educational institutions from Title IX—and
only to the extent that a particular application of Title IX would not be
consistent with a specific tenet of the controlling religious organization, see
20 U.S.C. § 1681(a)(3)—is substantially related to the government’s objective
of accommodating religious exercise.”
The court
rejected plaintiffs' Establishment Clause challenge applying the Lemon test.
The court also rejected various other constitutional challenges to the
exemption.
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