Religious Exemption Requests Push Back Against LGBT Rights, Modern Ideas
Abstract
Title IX prohibits institutions that accept federal funding from discriminating on the basis of sex against students and employees. However, it includes several exceptions that allow certain institutions to receive federal funding even if they engage in discrimination that would otherwise have been disqualifying. This Articles identifies the exemptions and the scope of limitations to the specific aspect of Title IX. Recently, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has received dozens of new exemption requests from religious institutions seeking to preserve the ability to discriminate against LGBT individuals and others who do not conform to religious ideals about sex and marriage. The OCR has vowed transparency and the courts could become the battleground for the tension between religious freedom and civil rights.