Friend:

We’re anticipating a sweet victory for true religious freedom after the Biden administration’s Department of Education announced this week its intention to reconsider, and likely revoke, a Donald Trump/Betsy DeVos-era policy that forced colleges and universities to fund religious student groups that discriminate. 

Americans United, in partnership with American Atheists, sued the Education Department on the last day of Trump’s term, on behalf of the Secular Student Alliance and a university student. The discriminatory rule was an "on-their-way-out-the-door" sop to Christian nationalists, with no legitimate—or constitutional—policy purpose.

The rule requires public colleges and universities to “exempt” (one of the most popular words in the Christian nationalist lexicon) religious clubs from nondiscrimination provisions that all other student clubs must abide by in order to receive funding from activity fees that all students are required to pay. For the most part, it was crafted to allow those clubs to bar LGBTQ students from membership and leadership roles.

Beyond harming LGBTQ students as well as students who are nonreligious or from minority faiths, the rule undermines the ability—indeed, responsibility—of colleges and universities to foster a climate of acceptance and equality by coercing, with the threat of lost federal funding, the schools’ acquiescence.

“The harm intended by this pointless rule isn’t hypothetical,” said Declan Galli, the LGBTQ California Polytechnic State University student on whose behalf we filed our suit. “Last year, a professor and a dozen students rallied on campus, shouting that being gay is a sin. [The regulation] allows these same students to start a group that would discriminate against me while still receiving funding from the fees I'm required to pay."

This promising development in our case comes during a time when we’re seeing religious extremism rear its ugly head abroad. It’s all a reminder of just how important it is to separate government from religion and religious patriarchy—and how much we risk if religious extremists gain more ground in their campaign to eradicate that fundamental principle.

Thank you for your support, which sustains our legal team and the expertise that enables AU to respond quickly and forcefully to threats like the 11th hour Trump administration rule.

Gratefully,