For the second time in as many months, a Christians-only campus club has lost its claim for official recognition. The US Court of Appeals ruled that UC Hasting College of Law was within its rights to deny recognition and funding to a group that discriminated against GLBT students and non-Christians.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
Christian law group loses fight with Hastings
UC Hastings College of the Law can deny recognition and funding to a Christian student group because it excludes gays, lesbians and non-Christians, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The San Francisco law school is entitled to require official student organizations to “accept all comers as members, even if those individuals disagree with the mission of the group,” the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled. It said the school’s policy is “viewpoint-neutral” and does not violate the rights of the Christian Legal Society.
The brief ruling cited the court’s decision last year allowing a Washington state high school to deny recognition to a student Bible club that required members to endorse its religious creed. Last week, the club asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review that case.
Not surprisingly, the group’s Alliance Defense Fund attorney, Jeremy Tedesco, claimed, “That’s a violation of the First Amendment, free speech and freedom of religion.”
Back in February, as was reported here, the ADF lost its demand that San Diego and Long Beach State Universities recognize Christians-only campus clubs that discriminate against openly GLBT students. And, there was ADF attorney Tadesco again claiming, according to the Union-Tribune, “the school policy ‘doesn’t respect a Christian group’s ability to make membership decisions’ and control its own club.”
The problem is obvious. These anti-gay, Christians-only campus groups are not willing to abide by established non-discrimination policies that cover race, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc, although these non-discrimination policies apply equally to all other groups on campus.
These days, one is unlikely to find a whites-only fraternity or a no-Latinos chess club on any campus in the US. So why should these Christian groups be handed an exemption, not to mention receive official recognition and funding — some of which is derived from fees paid by GLBT and non-Christian students?
Still, in the wily hands of the Alliance Defense Fund, the oppressors become the victims.
Kentridge High School, near Seattle, Washington, denied recognition to the Christians-only Truth Bible Club. The ADF sued in 2003, lost and is now demanding a hearing before the US Supreme Court. This is how they spin that case:
In Truth v. Kent Public School District, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Oregon-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Kentridge High School in Kent, Wash., does not have to offer official recognition to the Truth Bible Club.
[ … ]
ADF attorneys vowed to appeal the ruling. “Public high school officials cannot treat Christian students on campus as second-class citizens,” said ADF Legal Counsel Tim Chandler, in a press release. “The school district’s so-called ‘non-discrimination’ policy is supposed to prevent discrimination on campus. Instead, the school officials are using the policy to discriminate against the Truth Bible Club, which simply wanted the same access as other groups at Kentridge High.”
So, according to that arcane logic, Christian students are not to be treated as “second-class citizens,” but they should be allowed to selectively demean other students as second-class citizens. These Christians-only clubs may claim to want only the same benefits and privileges as other student groups, but they’re actually insisting on the right to discriminate against their fellow students.
At the risk of stating the obvious, look for the well-funded Alliance Defense Fund to drag these cases before the US Supreme Court.
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