Lutheran School's 1st Amendment Defense Against Discrimination Claim Rejected

In Riverside, California Monday, a judge refused to dismiss a case brought against a Lutheran high school on behalf of two students who were expelled because the school suspected that they were maintaining a lesbian relationship. The San Diego Union-Tribune yesterday reported that by allowing the case to proceed to trial, Superior Court Judge Gloria Connor Trask implicitly rejected defense arguments that their First Amendment free exercise rights precluded application of the Unruh Civil Rights Act to the private religious school. (See prior related posting.) The case is Mother Doe v. California Lutheran High School Association.