In a stunning blow to the Constitution’s protections regarding free exercise of religion and free speech, an appeals court has ordered that Christian schools in Maine must follow pro-LGBT rules and regulations that conflict with their faith.
That’s if they want to participate in a generally available program that offers tuition assistance.
According to a report assembled by the Washington Stand, that verdict comes from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit and is a “setback” for freedom in America.
“Essentially what the court has said is that you can believe what you want to believe, you can talk about what you believe, but once you exercise what you believe, that’s conduct that the state of Maine can regulate,” charged Jeremy Dys, of First Liberty Institute, which brought the lawsuit.
The report explained the case is Crosspoint Church v. Makin where the court said it was affirming a lower court decision denying a preliminary injunction against Maine’s pro-LGBT regulations.
Crosspoint runs Bangor Christian schools, which calls for employees and students to abide by basic biblical standards for gender and sexuality.
“But those standards run afoul of provisions in the Maine Human Rights Act, which Maine now applies to schools seeking to participate in its tuition assistance program,” the report said.
The court’s damage to freedom was found in its conclusion: “A private school that participates in the tuition-assistance program and then violates the MHRA exposes itself to civil suits from both the Maine Human Rights Commission (MHRC) and private alleged victims, with remedies including injunctive relief and monetary damages.”
The specifics are that the state’s “Religious Nondiscrimination Rule” forbids schools from discrimination in admissions, financial aid, academics and more “on the basis of religion.”
The state’s “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Rule” does the same on the basis of sexual orientation.
Such ideologies already have been tested at the U.S. Supreme Court, where Colorado’s “anti-discrimination” agenda repeatedly has lost when that state attacked a baker, a web designer and a counselor over their “discrimination” based on their Christian faith.
Dys said the practical application of Maine’s politics would prevent the Christian school from enforcing its biblical standards on sexuality and gender.
The court’s conclusion was that such limits on constitutional rights worked “no constitutional violation.”
Crosspoint’s claims had included that the amendments specifically targeted its operations.
The state program offers tuition assistance to allow parents to send their children to the school of their choice. But in 2022 it started excluding Christian schools and when a Supreme Court found that strategy unconstitutional, the state modified its attacks.
The change involved allowing Christian schools to participate but only if they made their beliefs subservient to the state’s sex agenda.
In 2023, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, a Democrat, stunningly claimed to be outraged at Christian schools.
He then said, “The education provided by the schools at issue here is inimical to a public education. They promote a single religion to the exclusion of all others, refuse to admit gay and transgender children, and openly discriminate in hiring teachers and staff.”
A further appeal still is being reviewed.