US schools allowed to discriminate against LGBT kids to be named and shamed
A list of religious schools in the US which receive public money but are exempt from LGBT discrimination laws will be published.
The Department of Education announced that religious schools which receive federal money yet which have been granted federal exemptions to discriminate against LGBT students and staff will be named and shamed.
A letter to politicians from the Department of Education published by BuzzFeed news states that waivers granted to religious schools will be published.
Last month eight US Senators had requested for the practice of obtaining the waivers to be made more transparent.
Title IX of the Education Act, written in 1972, means schools with public funding cannot discriminate.
However religious schools were granted a waiver by Congress.
Responding to the Senators assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department, Catherine Lhamon, said the waivers will be posted “on our website with a basic search tool so that applicants, students, parents, and others can be better informed about which educational institutions have sought and/or received a religious exemption.”
BuzzFeed has published the full letter from Lhamon here.
It notes that as of December, no school’s request for a waiver has ever been denied.
Lhamon wrote, “I appreciate your suggestion the we provide more transparency about the religious exemption requests received and [the department’s] responses. I agree.”
Both applications and letters to grant the waivers will be published on the website.
