Law School Can Deny Recognition to Christian Group That Bans Gay and Lesbian Students, Judge Rules

The University of California’s Hastings College of Law can deny student-activities funds to a Christian student group that forbids gay and lesbian members, according to a U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

The ruling, issued in April, is a setback for the Christian Legal Society, which has chapters at more than 80 law schools. The group has reached settlements over disputes with other law schools that have allowed its chapters to exclude gay and lesbian students and still receive funds and official recognition.

In this case, however, the judge wrote that denying recognition to the group did not violate its right to free speech. What’s more, according to the ruling, including homosexual students as members would not impair the group’s mission.

The law school, which had refused to settle the case with the student group and had vowed to defend its policy in court, hailed the ruling. “It’s the first case to definitively resolve these issues which have been raised by the Christian Legal Society across the country,” said Ethan P. Schulman, a lawyer for the law school.

The society plans to appeal the court’s decision, according to Steven H. Aden, chief litigation counsel for the Center for Law and Religious Freedom, the litigation branch of the Christian Legal Society. “We believe the district court ... got a number of constitutional issues fundamentally wrong.”

http://chronicle.com Section: Students Volume 52, Issue 35, Page A46