A federal appeals court has ruled that Maine may require private schools to comply with the state’s LGBT nondiscrimination policies before families at those schools can qualify for a public tuition assistance program.
The ruling came last week in Crosspoint Church v. A. Pender Makin et al., a case involving whether Crosspoint’s Bangor Christian School must follow the Maine Human Rights Act for enrolled families to qualify for state tuition benefits.
Circuit Judge William Kayatta, who former President Barack Obama appointed, authored the panel’s opinion.
The court rejected Crosspoint’s request for a permanent injunction that would have barred the state from applying the law to the school. Kayatta wrote that “Crosspoint has not shown that specific anti-BCS animus motivated” the state policy.
The panel, however, agreed with Crosspoint on its challenge to Maine’s religious expression rule, concluding that the rule violated the church’s right to the free exercise of religion. The appeals court returned the case to the district court for additional proceedings consistent with Kayatta’s opinion.
“[W]e conclude Crosspoint has not succeeded on its free-exercise claims against the Religious Nondiscrimination Rule or the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Rule,” wrote Kayatta.
“Crosspoint has failed to convince us that the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Rule should receive strict scrutiny as a content- or viewpoint-based regulation of speech.”
Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, which represented the church, said in a statement Tuesday that the organization was disappointed by the decision.
“We are disappointed that though the First Circuit acknowledges that religious institutions can teach what they believe, it would then refuse to allow conduct consistent with those beliefs,” stated Dys.
“Religious education plays a critical role in our diverse society, but Maine’s leadership will not tolerate conduct consistent with those religious beliefs. As the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly said, punishing religious institutions for being religious is odious to our Constitution.”
First Liberty Institute said it plans to appeal the ruling.
