Federal court: Maine Christian schools receiving public funding must follow gender, sexuality rules

Maine is allowed to exclude Catholic schools and other private institutions from public funding if the schools refuse to abide by gender- and sexuality-related nondiscrimination laws, a federal appeals court said this month.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit on July 2 ruled against St. Dominic Academy in the Diocese of Portland, denying the school’s request for an injunction against Maine’s LGBT-related nondiscrimination rules. If granted, the injunction would have allowed the school to access public funding streams.

The school had argued against requirements that it facilitate student “gender transitions” and had said it would not require staff to refer to students by opposite-sex pronouns.

The court, however, said that “combatting sexual-orientation and gender-identity discrimination” is a “legitimate governmental pursuit” and that requiring publicly funded schools to follow those rules “rationally relates” to that pursuit.

Such schools are also required to publicly affirm the “gender identity” of their students, the court said.

The ruling comes several years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Maine could not ban students from using public student…