Biden Administration to defend religious exemption lawsuit; Christians, LGBTQ group say it shouldn't

Chicago, IL - The U.S. Department of Justice is resisting criticism that it is unable to defend the rights of churches in an LGBTQ lawsuit.

Hunter v. Department of Education is a lawsuit filed by 40 students who believe the U.S. Department of Education should not be funding Christian schools who have discriminatory policies against LGBTQ students.

The Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP)—the group hoping to overturn religious exemptions for anti-discrimination laws—filed the lawsuit.

But the Christian schools, through the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), argue the Biden Administration is too pro-LGBTQ and should not be defending their religious liberty cause in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The CCCU would like to be allowed to defend the religious liberty cause—instead of the U.S. Attorney General's office.

Even if the Biden Administration doesn't agree with the right of schools to discriminate against LGBTQ persons, the Justice Department said it can and will fulfill its function and defend the religious exemptions—as they are still the law of the land.

However, REAP would also like to see the Justice Department step down from defending the religious exemptions in law.

“The government is now aligning itself with anti-LGBTQ hate in order to vigorously defend an exemption that everyone knows causes severe harm to LGBTQ students using taxpayer money,” REAP director Paul Carlos Southwick told Washington Post.

“It will make our case harder if the federal government plans to vigorously defend it like they have indicated.”