California Lutheran School Sued Over Policy on Lesbians

A suit filed last week in state court in Riverside, California raises the issue of whether a religious school can avoid the anti-discrimination provisions of California's Unruh Civil Rights Act by invoking the school's right to freedom of religion and association. The North County Times reported Tuesday on the suit against the California Lutheran High School Association that oversees Wildomar's Cal Lutheran High. The school expelled two female students who were suspected of having a lesbian relationship with each other. In a letter to the students' parents, the school said that the "bond of intimacy" that exists between the two girls is "unchristian". The students' attorney, Christopher Hayes, argues that the school is a "business establishment" under the anti-discrimination law.