On Wednesday, a case will be heard in federal court that has been brewing for over a year: a Christian student group at the University of Iowa filed suit in December 2017 against the university after the university deregistered the group because the group would not permit an openly gay student to serve as an officer in the group,
In February 2017, Marcus Miller, who is openly gay, filed a complaint with the university, alleging that Business Leaders in Christ (BLinC) would not let him serve in a leadership role because of his sexuality. The university asked BLinC to amend its constitution so that it would be less exclusive; BLinC refused.
In November 2017, university administrators deregistered the student organization, but a court order nullified the deregistration until June 30, 2018. But 12 days before the June 30 deadline arrived, and only a few days after the U.S. Supreme Court voted for Christian baker Jack Phillips in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, UI attorneys asked a judge to reinstate its banishment of the Christian group. The university somehow used the case, which Phillips won, to justify the banishment, saying the court “reaffirmed the principle that content neutral and generally applicable laws may infringe on certain First Amendment rights … In this case, the University of Iowa’s Human Rights Policy is content neutral and generally applicable to all registered student organizations.”
According to BLinC, Miller “expressly stated that he rejected BLinC’s religious beliefs and would not follow them.” Hannah Thompson, who was BLinC’s president at the time of the incident, said the decision was made regarding Miller “not because he was gay, but because he did not agree with BLinC’s biblically-based views on sexual conduct.”
BLinC’s statement of faith reads, “God’s intention for a sexual relationship is to be between a husband and a wife in the lifelong covenant of marriage. Every other sexual relationship beyond this is outside of God’s design and is not in keeping with God’s original plan for humanity.” The university claimed Business Leaders in Christ violated the school’s human rights policy.
But then, in June 2018, a review discovered 356 of 513 student organizations at the University don’t comply with the university’s human rights policy. As Megan Olson and Kyle Hooten write at Campus Reform, “Two of those organizations are specifically named in BLinC’s lawsuit. For example, lawsuit highlights the UI Feminist Union, which it says requires support for abortion practices. The document also names the Islamic organization Imam Mahdi, which it says requires not only that members be a Shia Muslim but that they ‘refrain from major sins…and endeavor to avoid minor sins.’ Homosexuality is a major sin in the Islamic faith.”
A news release from the law firm Becket, which is representing the students, stated:
BLinC’s membership is open to all university students, but university officials targeted BLinC and other religious groups because they require leaders to live by and affirm the group’s religious beliefs. Meanwhile, the university allows several student groups – such as fraternities and sororities, sports clubs, feminist groups, pro-life groups, and advocacy groups – to enforce leader and membership restrictions. BLinC is asking the court for permanent protection from the university’s religious discrimination, especially after the university admitted that it knowingly targeted the religious student groups.