WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it would decide whether a school can discriminate against a group that discriminates against gays for religious reasons.
The case pits the right of a school, a public entity, to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians and the right of a religious group to follow biblical condemnation of homosexual activity.
The University of California's Hastings College of Law in San Francisco only offers official recognition to groups that are open to all students, and also has a larger policy that prohibits discrimination against sexual orientation, as well as race, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, age and gender, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Hasting chapter of the Christian Legal Society cites its organization's national policy, which follows the "clear dictates of Scripture" to condemn "unrepentant participation" in an "immoral lifestyle," including gay sex. In effect, gays and lesbians cannot be officers or voting members of the society.
Hastings told the chapter five years ago it was no longer an officially recognized school group. The removal had practical effects -- the school would no longer pay travel costs for chapter officers to attend national meetings, the group could not reserve rooms for meetings and the society was excluded from some mailings sent to law students, the Times reported.
A federal court and appeals court sided with the school, but the Supreme Court said it would hear argument in the case later this term. A ruling should come before the justices recess for the summer.
