In December, BuzzFeed reported on a recent, dramatic spike in the number of religiously affiliated colleges and universities that had applied for and received exemptions from Title IX — the federal law that prohibits schools that receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of sex. By granting the exemption, the Department of Education has allowed them to discriminate against students based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
With support from an anti-LGBT legal organization, the schools have made use of a very broad religious exemption in Title IX that permits “an educational institution which is controlled by a religious organization” to engage in discrimination that would otherwise be prohibited by the law if it conflicts with the school’s religious tenets.
While it would take new legislation from Congress to narrow the kinds of carte blanche discrimination (e.g. denying campus housing to transgender students that is consistent with their gender identity) that Title IX’s religious exemption permits, the ACLU has urged the U.S. Department of Education to act where it can. As a bare minimum, LGBT students and their families should have a right to know about the kinds of taxpayer-funded discrimination they can be subjected to by their school.
Last week, the head of the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Education — in response to a letter from several senators, led by Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — stated that the department would provide greater transparency about requests for religious exemptions by publishing them online for the public to view for themselves. Up to this point, it has often taken FOIA requests and investigative journalism for this information to come to light.
While providing LGBT students and their families with this information is, unquestionably, an important step forward, the struggle to ensure that LGBT students across the nation are afforded the equal treatment and dignity they deserve continues.
