On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from a Christian college in Missouri that sued the Biden administration over a requirement to open dorm rooms and shower areas to “transgender” students.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom, the College of the Ozarks sued the Biden administration because of a directive from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development forcing religious schools to open their dorms, shower spaces, and other facilities to individuals who believe their gender identity does not align with their biological sex. The Fair Housing Act requires entities to not “discriminate” based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
"Because the college's faith teaches that sex is based on male-female biology, not gender identity, the college assigns its dorms, roommates, and intimate spaces by sex and communicates that policy to students," the college reportedly told the Supreme Court in its appeal.
“College of the Ozarks should be free to follow the religious tradition on which it was founded and young women should not be forced to share private spaces with men,” ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch said in a statement. “The government can’t strip a faith-based institution of its constitutionally protected freedoms because it disagrees with its views about marriage and sexuality.”
Reportedly, lower courts sided with the Biden administration (via USA Today):
Lower courts, including the St. Louis-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, sided with the Biden administration on a procedural point last year, finding that the college did not have standing to sue in part because the government never attempted to enforce an anti-discrimination complaint against the school.
The 2021 guidance, the Biden administration told the Supreme Court in its written response in late May, does not by itself require the school "or any other housing provider to do or refrain from doing anything." The college, the administration said, "has not alleged any past, current, or threatened enforcement."
The Biden administration's memo was the result of a significant 2020 Supreme Court decision that bars discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County focused on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which explicitly prohibits workplace discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex and religion. A majority of the court held that sexual orientation and gender identity necessarily involve a person's sex. Because of that, they reasoned, the law prohibits LGBTQ discrimination.
The anti-discrimination housing provision of the Fair Housing Act use language that is similar to what's in the workplace law, including an explicit prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex.
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Last year, the University of Pennsylvania made headlines for allowing Will “Lia” Thomas, a male who identifies as a “trans woman” to compete on the women’s swim team after competing on the men’s team for three years.
During a Q&A at the U.S. Capitol, Riley Gaines, a former swimmer at the University of Kentucky who tied with Thomas at the NCAA championships, explained that female athletes were forced to share a locker room with Thomas last year, which Townhall covered.
“No one has asked us how we felt. We exist to validate a male’s identity,” Gaines said. “It is just so wild that you can turn around and see a 6’4" biological man pull his pants down, watching you undress and no one is willing to stick up for you?”
This video speaks for itself.‼️When female athletes questioned having to share a locker room with a biological male, they were gaslit into thinking they should seek counseling.@Riley_Gaines_ shares an emotional testimony on Capitol Hill on National Girls & Women in Sports Day. pic.twitter.com/Rhs97Fu8qy
— Independent Women's Forum (@IWF) February 1, 2023
Additionally, Paula Scalan, Thomas’ former teammate, who appeared in Matt Walsh’s 2022 film “What is a Woman?” anonymously, decided to publicly speak out about her experience competing, and sharing a locker room with Thomas.
“It [the locker room] was uncomfortable. I did notice a few girls – there’s a few bathroom stalls in the bathroom – and I did notice some girls changing in the bathroom stalls for practice, which I’ve never really seen that before,” Scanlan said. “For me personally, the biggest thing was, when you’re changing, there’s all these people talking in the background, all these women’s voices, and then all of a sudden you hear a man’s voice. I’d always kind of jump a little bit [hearing Thomas’ voice].”
“There was something going on in that athletic department that wanted to keep us quiet. And I was like, ‘this is getting scary,’” Scanlan added. She said that girls were told in a meeting with school officials, without Thomas present, “do not talk to the media, you will regret it.”
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