On Tuesday, the California Senate Judiciary Committee
approved by a vote of 3-2 and sent to the full Senate for consideration
SB 777, the California Student Civil Rights Act. Press attention has focused on the bill's prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools receiving public funding or whose students receive student financial aid (
Equality California press release). There is an exception for religiously-controlled schools where the requirements would be inconsistent with their religious tenets.
Another provision in the bill has gone largely unnoticed. While
current California law prohibits religious discrimination in schools, SB 777 for the first time adds a broad definition of "religion" for this purpose. Proposed Sec. 212.3 of the Education Code provides that:
"'Religion" includes all aspects of religious belief, observance, and practice and includes agnosticism and atheism.
