Home Christian News Faculty, Students Sue Christian School Over LGBTQ Hiring Ban

Faculty, Students Sue Christian School Over LGBTQ Hiring Ban

She cited the possibility of a 25% reduction in faculty positions and said consultants had warned professors that SPU might have only a few more years of financial viability unless circumstances change.

The school’s total enrollment last fall was 3,443, down from 4,175 in 2015.

Bikos said she’s deeply committed to fighting the employment policy, yet finds the effort exhausting.

“Never in my life did I think I’d be part of a lawsuit,” she said. “That’s not who I am.”

Paul Southwick, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said the university likely would seek dismissal of the lawsuit but predicted the court would allow a jury trial to proceed. He declined to predict an ultimate outcome, but said that under state law, Washington’s attorney general has the right to remove university trustees under certain circumstances.

Tensions over LGBTQ-related policies have flared recently at other religious universities in the U.S.

At Brigham Young—run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—LGBTQ students and their allies at the Provo, Utah, school have been protesting rules that forbid same-sex romantic partnerships or physical displays of affection.

Yeshiva University—based in New York City—has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a state court order mandating that the Orthodox Jewish school recognize an LGBTQ student group—the YU Pride Alliance—as an official campus club. On Friday, the Supreme Court granted Yeshiva’s request for the time being, and signaled it may consider the case more fully.

——

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

This article originally appeared on APNews.com.