The United States Department of Education has granted religious exemption to a Christian University, securing it from federal anti-discrimination laws, after it refused a transgender student housing in the men’s dormitories. George Fox University was granted the exemption after it denied 20-year-old Jayce Marcus, a female to male transgender student from Portland, accommodation within the campus’ single-sex residence halls, saying the university is a “Christ-centered community.”
After the incident, Paul Southwick, Marcus’ attorney, filed a discriminatory lawsuit with the Department of Education. According to Southwick, religious exemptions take several years to be granted but George Fox received theirs within a few months. Allegedly, they sought the exemption without informing Marcus or his lawyer.
“This is worse than Hobby Lobby because George Fox is largely funded by taxpayer money. George Fox is the first Christian college to ask the federal government for a permission slip to discriminate against transgender students,” said Southwick.
Title IX, which was passed in 1972, disallows discrimination on the basis of sex and in 2010, the Department of Education issued additional guidance saying that it also protects LGBT students from sex discrimination. However, the law also provides for a broad exemption to educational institutions that are allegedly controlled by the Church.
Officials at the university said that their faith makes it mandatory for the residential facilities to be single gender.
“The university sought this exemption to preserve its right to draw on its religious convictions to handle situations related to students experiencing gender identity issues. Other colleges have received similar Title IX exemptions in the past. Providing appropriate housing for transgender students continues to be a challenge at religious and non-religious institutions across the country,” said George Fox through a statement.
Marcus, who has been medically, legally and socially transitioned, said he was shocked and disappointed to learn that the federal government had granted George Fox a religious exemption so he could be discriminated against.
“I don’t understand it and I don’t think it is fair. I feel like I have the right to live with other males. As a person who is transgender, there is a lot of anxiety, depression that comes along with that and I don’t feel like that would be right for me to live by myself due to those things…. The university is operating under the doctrine of ‘separate but equal,’ and the religious exemption they received now gives the government’s stamp of approval to what they are doing. My own tax dollars will fund the university’s discrimination against me,” he said.
After the university’s decision not to provide him with accommodation, Marcus along with four other friends, found an off-campus home to live at for their junior year. He said that he would continue to pursue the case by appealing against the ruling made by the Department of Education.
