Campus leaders are ‘arguing for byzantine regulations that hurt the very women and girls they’re being paid to protect,’ advocate says
In order to keep allowing men who identify as women in female spaces and sports, some universities are considering making a case for religious freedom through an “LGBTQ+ church,” according to a new investigation.
The “LGBTQ+ church” argument was posited earlier this year in an email listserv between higher education administrators and consultants who oversee Title IX compliance, according to emails obtained by Speech First and first reported at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The discussion related to President Donald Trump’s actions to recognize that sex is binary in federal law and to ban men from women’s sports.
Nicole Neily, board chair of Speech First, told the Daily Caller that Title IX administrators are the employees who are supposed to be protecting female students from discrimination on campus.
Instead, they are “arguing for byzantine regulations that hurt the very women and girls they’re being paid to protect,” Neily said of the recently uncovered emails. “It is unconscionable that public employees drawing taxpayer-funded salaries are scheming on listserves how to circumvent the law.”
According to the February emails, members of the Association of Title IX Administrators discussed ways to find potential loopholes for “the LGBTQ+ community.”
“If a person can refuse to use someone’s preferred pronoun because to do so would be a violation of their religious beliefs (‘God only made 2 sexes’), can’t that become a double-edged sword?” an anonymous person from a community college wrote.
The individual suggested that “people in the LGBTQ+ community” may be able to legally argue that their beliefs about gender are “religious” and therefore protected under the First Amendment.
“That then begs the question, are public institutions required to ensure that members of the LGBTQ+ community are not harassed or treated ‘less than’ due to religious beliefs?” the person wrote.
The report continues:
In response to the anonymous question, ATIXA president Brett Sokolow confirmed that religious protections could be expanded to prevent schools from complying with the order.
“If you could establish and promulgate a LGBTQ+ church that met the standard … the courts would have to tolerate that church’s beliefs, whatever they are,” Sokolow wrote in an email obtained by Speech First.
Sokolow further suggested that schools could claim membership with “a tolerant existing sect” and use it “to argue exclusion violates your beliefs.”
In response to Sokolow, Paula Brantner, a “harassment and toxic workplace” consultant, suggested the Metropolitan Community Church, stating it “fits the bill” of an existing “LGBTQ+ Church” and could be “considered to be affirming for the purposes of litigation,” emails showed.
David Rucker, a Title IX coordinator at Pima Community College in Arizona, also responded, noting that other laws protecting religious freedom could “play a role in LGBTQ+ protections,” too, according to the investigation.
“If my God says there are various sexes (non-binary) and that his design for me…is this not a religious belief?” Rucker wrote. “My point is, the LGBTQ+ community may not be covered under Title IX any longer but do not forget there may be other laws that play a role in LGBTQ+ protections. This holds even stronger for those of us that manage more than just Title IX issues.”
Responding to the report, Sokolow said his organization does not provide legal advice, but it does strongly support religious freedom, including “religious exemptions under Title IX.”
“ATIXA often discusses with members the challenges of competing and unclear federal, state, and court standards, and we encourage our members to explore the contours of these challenges fully to best assess how their schools, districts, and institutions should respond to a dynamic legal environment related to sex discrimination,” he told the Daily Caller.
Traditionally, the Judeo-Christian faith teaches that sex is binary and the sexual act is meant for one man and one woman in marriage.
However, some scholars have challenged this in recent years, including some who say there is evidence that several early Christian saints were “transgender,” The College Fix recently reported.
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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Hands wave LGBTQ pride flags; Thisisbossi/Flickr