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The Obama administration gave into LGBT groups seeking to “shame” schools seeking religious exemptions from Title IX by publishing the list of institutions on Friday. Groups for months have called for the release as part of a “Shame List” campaign, according to The Christian Post.
Since 2014, the Obama administration has interpreted Title IX, which forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, to include transgender individuals. The list of schools was published by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.
Specific exemptions for religious schools who believe the law requires them to violate their religious beliefs only apply to those with a denomination. That leaves out nondenominational schools, including Wheaton College in Illinois, as highlighted by The Christian Post.
Despite the narrow scope, more than 200 schools have been granted an exemption as of April 1, with at least 30 more pending. In December, 60 schools had applied.
A page for the “shame list” appeared on the website for Campus Pride. “Religion-based bigotry is careless and life-threatening,” the group warns. On the list are schools which have “requested a Title IX exemption to openly discriminate against LGBTQ people due to their anti-LGBTQ religion-based bigotry.”
Students are also “encouraged to reach out to Campus Pride and may file a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights” if they “find their campus on the ‘Shame List.'” It is not clarified what warrants the complaint other than the school requesting an exemption it is entitled to.
Campus Pride pointed to Andy Birkey’s December article for The Column, “Dozens of Christian schools win Title IX waivers to ban LGBT students.” Birkey claimed that “conservative Christian groups are hosting trainings and providing documents that schools can use to prove their ‘sincerely held religious beliefs’ about LGBT people.”
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in a December report warned about “Hidden Discrimination: Title IX Discriminations Putting LGBT Students At Risk.”
“Religiously controlled educational institutions should not be exempt from full transparency,” the report declared.
Lamenting that the process of Freedom of Information Acts is “complex,” HRC called on the Department of Education to “require schools to publish comprehensive information about the scope of the exemption they received,” and for the department to publish that information themselves with a searchable feature. Another recommendation included annual reports to Congress on the exemptions.
Campus Pride also reached out to the NCAA to divest from schools on the list, including those who are not even affiliated with the NCAA, The Christian Post reported. As the NCAA does not deal with Title IX waivers, their response was to refer to the Office of Civil Rights.
