List of colleges seeking Title IX religious exemption from transgender rules released by U.S. education department
The U.S. Department of Education has finally granted the petition of activist groups such as those supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) to release the list of colleges and universities that sought to gain Title IX religious exemption from transgender rules.
The education department's website lists 232 colleges that have been granted exemptions and 31 still pending. The LGBT activist groups refer to this list as the "Shame List" and is intended to be used in their anti-discrimination campaign.
Human Rights Campaign share the same opinion that the religious exemption will put transgender and gay students at risk. "Many LGBT students may find themselves enrolled at schools that are granted the legal right to discriminate against them partway through their degree program," HRC stated in their report last December, adding "Students should have the opportunity to make determinations about school attendance based on full information regarding a university's ability to legally discriminate against the student."
As stated in the Title IX: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." The outgoing Obama administration has made it clear that this law also applies to transgender individuals who may be subject to sex discrimination.
Moreover, a religious exemption is attached to this statute, giving schools affiliated to a denomination the freedom to practice their religious tenets without being liable to the Title IX.
It is this religious exemption that sent colleges scrambling to the Department of Education for a request to be exempted. Schools need only make an official request and the exemption will automatically be granted since no government branch or agency is authorized by law to deny it. The Obama administration has ruled out that only nondenominational evangelical schools may not obtain an exemption.
