Harmful New Religious Exemptions

GLSEN, the leading education organization working to create safe & inclusive schools for LGBTQ students has denounced the harmful religious exemptions to federally funded programs across nine federal agencies recently proposed by the Trump Administration. These new regulations would make it easier for schools to qualify for Title IX exemptions as “religious schools” & make it more difficult for states to protect students from discrimination carried out with public funds. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects students from discrimination on the basis of sex, which has been interpreted in recent years to cover discrimination based on sexual orientation & gender identity. Eliza Byard, GLSEN Executive Director stated, “The Trump Administration’s on-going effort to make us all pay for discrimination in K-12 schools under the guise of religion must be resisted at every step. We should be working to make our nation’s schools safe for all students, not eroding existing civil rights protections that protect LGBTQ & other marginalized youth & paying for the practices that put them at risk.” Today Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that could allow for public funds to go to schools that discriminate against our LGBTQ students & staff by eradicating the current provisions that bar public funds from financing religious education. The Department of Justice under U.S. Attorney General William Barr filed an amicus brief in support of jettisoning those provisions. GLSEN is calling for the passage of the Equality Act that will protect all students from discrimination based on their sexual orientation & gender identity assuring safer school environments where LGBTQ youth can thrive, personally & academically.
For More Info: glsen.org
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