California Supreme Court Will Not Review Unruh Act Case Against Lutheran School

Yesterday the California Supreme Court denied review in California Lutheran High School Association vs. Superior Court, a suit by two high school girls and their parents challenging the girls' expulsion from a Lutheran religious high school in Wildomar, California. (See prior postings 1, 2, 3.) School principal Gregory Bork claims that the two girls may have been engaged in a lesbian relationship in violation of the school's code of conduct which prohibits actions "contrary to Christian decency.'' The suit claims that the school's action violated California's Unruh Act that prohibits prohibits businesses from discriminating on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation. The school argues that as a non-profit religious school it is not a business and so is not covered by the law. It also argues that its free exercise rights override any statutory restriction. Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle reported on the decision.