How Title IX Put BYU In A Lawsuit For Their Treatment of LGBTQ+ Students | Ep. 1416

How Title IX's Religious Exemption Shielded BYU From LGBTQ+ Discrimination Protections

For nearly five decades, a single clause in federal law has allowed religiously affiliated universities to sidestep civil rights protections that apply to every other institution receiving taxpayer funding. That exemption came under unprecedented legal scrutiny when a coalition of LGBTQ+ students and graduates filed a Title IX lawsuit challenging Brigham Young University's discriminatory policies. The case raises a fundamental question: Should universities that accept billions in federal aid be permitted to discriminate against students based on sexual orientation and gender identity?

The dispute is not merely academic. BYU and Liberty University together receive nearly two billion dollars annually in federal student loans and grants, a staggering amount that gives these institutions significant leverage while insulating them from the civil rights standards that govern public and most private institutions.

Understanding Title IX and the Religious Exemption Loophole

When Congress passed Title IX in 1972, it banned sex discrimination across any education program receiving federal financial assistance. Yet the statute included a religious exemption clause permitting institutions to maintain policies consistent with their sincerely held religious beliefs. For decades, this exemption operated almost invisibly in the background, never challenged in federal court, rarely scrutinized by the Department of Education, and assumed to be settled law.

The exemption was designed to accommodate religious institutions' doctrinal autonomy. But according to the Mormon Stories Podcast's extensive reporting on the lawsuit, the clause has functioned as a de facto shield allowing religiously affiliated schools to enforce policies that would be illegal at secular institutions.