Ruling:
Christian Groups Must Allow Homosexual
Members
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on
Monday, June
28, that a law school can legally deny
recognition to a Christian student
group that
won't let homosexuals join. The court
turned
away an appeal from the Christian
Legal
Society (CLS), which sued to get
funding and
recognition from the University of
California's Hastings College of the
Law. The
CLS requires that voting members sign a
statement of faith and regards
"unrepentant participation in or
advocacy
of a sexually immoral lifestyle" as
being
inconsistent with that faith. But
Hastings,
which is in San Francisco, said no
recognized
campus groups may exclude people due
to sexual
orientation. The court on a 5-4
judgment
upheld the lower court rulings saying
the
Christian group's First Amendment
rights of
association, free speech and free
exercise
weren't violated by the college's
nondiscrimination policy. Justice Ruth
Bader
Ginsburg wrote the 5-4 majority
opinion.