Suit was filed on Monday in a Maryland federal district court by a preschool- 8 Christian school that was excluded from Maryland's scholarship program for low-income students, as well as the state's textbook and technology and its aging schools programs. The complaint (
full text) in
Bethel Ministries, Inc. v. Salmon, (D MD, filed 6/24/2019), alleges that the school does not discriminate in admissions on the basis of sexual orientation, but that it was nevertheless disqualified because of its policy on transgender students and on same-sex marriage. According to the complaint:
50. Faculty, staff, and students are expected to align their conduct with Bethel’s belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.
51. Faculty, staff, and students are expected to align their conduct with Bethel’s belief that biological sex as either male or female is an immutable gift from God, and therefore identify with, dress in accordance with, conduct themselves in keeping with, use the pronouns associated with, and use the facilities provided for, their biological sex....
53. Bethel’s conduct policy prohibits any communication of a sexual nature, such as identifying as the opposite sex, or expressing romantic attraction towards another student.
The school alleges that disqualifying it on this basis violates its 1st and 14th Amendment rights. ADF issued a
press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.
