A federal judge has declined, for a second time, to issue an injunction suspending enforcement of a clause in the Maine Human Rights Act that bars religious schools from receiving state funding if they discriminate on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation, or religion.
Crosspoint Church — which runs Bangor Christian School — filed a lawsuit last year challenging a 2021 amendment to the Maine Human Rights Act that did away with certain exemptions for religious schools that receive funding through the state’s longstanding Town Tuitioning program.
Town Tuitioning, first launched in 1873, allows students residing in districts without a public school to attend the public or private school of their family’s choosing. Under this program, sending towns are responsible for paying tuition costs directly to receiving schools.
In 2022, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Carson v. Makin that Maine could not require schools to be “nonsectarian” in order to be eligible for funding through this program.
According to the Court, enforcement of this criteria represented a violation of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.
Immediately following the release of this decision, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) issued a statement doubling down on the State’s position that religious schools should be excluded from the Town Tuitioning program on account of their religious beliefs:
“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. One school teaches children that the husband is to be the leader of the household.
While parents have the right to send their children to such schools, it is disturbing that the Supreme Court found that parents also have the right to force the public to pay for an education that is fundamentally at odds with values we hold dear.”
Also in the statement, Attorney General Frey vowed to explore ways to avoid allowing religious schools to participate in the program going forward.
“I intend to explore with Governor Mills’ administration and members of the Legislature statutory amendments to address the Court’s decision and ensure that public money is not used to promote discrimination, intolerance, and bigotry,” he said.
Crosspoint Church took legal action against Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin and the Maine Human Rights Commission in early 2023 for having amended state law in an alleged attempt to preemptively to narrow existing religious exemptions in anticipation of the Court’s then-forthcoming ruling.
Passed in 2021, the amendments to the Maine Human Rights Act at the center of this lawsuit altered exemptions for religious institutions that had previously been on the books in such a way that they would only apply to schools that do not receive state funding.
Consequently, religious schools were required to comply with anti-discrimination requirements with respect to religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation in order to participate in the Town Tuitioning program.
The law was amended to include “religious neutrality” language for schools accepting state funds, requiring that “to the extent that an educational institution permits religious expression, it cannot discriminate between religions in so doing.”
It further added a “religious nondiscrimination requirement” preventing these schools from discriminating on the basis of religion “in any academic, extracurricular, research, occupational training or other program or activity.”
The Maine Human Rights Act was also amended so as to bar religious schools that accept state funds from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, regardless of whether or not this would result in a violation of their faith.
Click Here to Read This Section of the Maine Human Rights Act
“This ‘poison pill’ effectively deters religious schools from participating and thereby
perpetuates the religious discrimination at the heart of the sectarian exclusion,” Crosspoint Church argued in their March 2023 complaint.
In February of this year, U.S. District Judge John Woodcock denied Crosspoint Church’s request to temporarily halt enforcement of these requirements while their lawsuit is pending, suggesting that the state’s rules are “neutral, generally applicable, and rationally related to a legitimate government interest.”
Crosspoint Church then brought forward additional evidence, including a copy of their application for admission, and asked Judge Woodcock to reconsider his decision.
This application included language requiring prospective students and parents to abide by the terms outlined in the Student/Parent Handbook, which says that students and parents must comply with the school’s statement of faith.
On Thursday, the judge reaffirmed his earlier ruling, explaining that this evidence had no impact on the outcome of the case.
According to the Portland Press Herald, a representative of First Liberty — the legal non-profit representing Crosspoint Church — indicated that the group will continue to pursue this case.
“We look forward to continuing with the case and restoring [Bangor Christain Schools]’s right to participate equally in the Maine tuitioning program without facing religious discrimination,” said Lea Patterson, First Liberty’s senior counsel.
In June of 2023 — several months after Crosspoint Church first took legal action against the State — St. Dominic Academy in Auburn filed a lawsuit against Makin and the Maine Human Rights Commission that outlined a slate of similar allegations.
[RELATED: Mills Administration Sued for Violating Christians’ Constitutional Rights (Again)]
In their complaint, St. Dominic Academy largely echoed the claims made by Crosspoint Church, accusing the defendants of having engaged in religious discrimination by attempting to “‘outmaneuver’ the Supreme Court” with their 2021 amendments to the Maine Human Rights Act.
Click Here to Read the Full Complaint Filed by Crosspoint Church in 2023
Interesting. A similar case was just brought in CO and the religious school won.
Our Maine Supreme Court don’t care about the actual US or State Constitutions though.
You can see that in their rulings about ranked choice voting and hunting and General Mills’ unconstitutional shutdowns during the plandemic or the forced clot shots or the open door to illegals, or issuing illegals drivers licenses with fake SS #’s, etc.
They’re all Mills’ pals.
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Hand the entire government over to democrats and this is what you get.
Nonparticipation is a much better path.
“The education provided by the schools at issue here is inimical to a public education.”
…keyword here is ‘inimical’. Frey hit the nail on the head instead of the nail hitting him. Christian churches are INDEED adverse to pushing the ridiculousness of public education, aka, indoctrination. Parents should be able to send their children to a place that is going to teach them moral values, as well as, how to read and write. The Supreme Court basically agreed to this assumption in 2022. But, Democrats being Democrats, have yet again, flaunted and scornfully ignored any Supreme ruling and pretty much told the courts to pound sand! Democrats are dangerous and are up in your grill doing just as they please. This has to stop. We are barrelling down a communist road.