U.S. Suprem Court split over public funding for schools that reject children of same-sex parents

 

The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority offered clear support for Catholic preschools that claim Colorado's taxpayer-funded program improperly excludes them by unconstitutionally intruding on their religious rights.

At issue is whether those private education institutions that deny admission to children of same-sex parents violate state anti-discrimination laws, and can therefore be denied a generally applicable public benefit.

In a lively two-hour oral argument, the justices debated competing interests involving both religious liberty and a state's interest in ensuring equal opportunity for gay and lesbian parents.

Conservative justices focused on the "free exercise" claims by the Catholic parishes that state requirements for receiving public benefits amounted to religious discrimination.

The schools’ attorney, Nicholas Reaves, said families must affirm the schools’ statement of community beliefs in good faith. According to him, some circumstances involving same-sex couples would prevent enrollment.

But justice Sonia Sotomayor distinguished instruction from exclusion: “You can teach whatever it is you want to teach, but if parents choose to subject their children to this teaching, you have to accept that child,” she said. “That should be their choice, not your choice to exclude them.

The ruling is expected by next year.