The United States Education Department has dismissed an anti-LGBTQ+ complaint against Brigham Young University (BYU).
Last year, the Utah-based institution removed a longstanding rule that banned “all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings.”
But shortly after LGBTQ+ students celebrated the overdue change, school officials removed any semblance of acceptance, stating that same-sex relationships were “not compatible” with BYU rules and regulations.
The school’s response led to an extensive Title IX investigation regarding its treatment of its LGBTQ+ students.
On 8 February, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) sent a letter to BYU’s president stating that even though the school is “subject to Title IX”, it’s also exempt from its regulations due to the school’s Mormon background.
Title IX, which was passed in 1972, is a law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any schools that receive federal funding.
The document then included all 15 regulatory provisions that the school is exempt from, ranging from admissions, housing, access to classes, and more.
“Because the University is exempt from the above-referenced regulatory provisions of Title IX… OCR lacks jurisdiction to address the complaint’s allegations. Accordingly, OCR is dismissing this complaint,” the letter said.
BYU released a statement acknowledging the “anticipated” dismissal shortly after receiving the letter.
“BYU had anticipated that OCR would dismiss the complaint because OCR has repeatedly recognized BYU’s religious exemption for Title IX requirements that are not consistent with the religious tenets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” they said.
LGBTQ+ activists and BYU students have also expressed their disappointment over the decision.
In an interview with NBC News, sophomore Madi Hawes said she had “blind hope” for a different outcome.
“I’m almost compelled to say that I was heartbroken, but I honestly wasn’t, because as much as I wanted something to happen, I didn’t expect anything to happen,” Hawes revealed.
“While I was hopeful, there wasn’t much faith backing up that hope. It was blind hope that I could even recognize as blind hope.”
In a separate statement, the Religious Exemptions Accountability Project director Paul Southwick condemned the government for “dashing the hopes of LGBTQ+ students.”
“This is another example of the federal government siding with discrimination and powerful institutions like BYU at the expense of vulnerable LGBTQ+ students,” he said.
“By dismissing this investigation, the federal government has not only dashed the hopes of many LGBTQ+ students who saw the investigation as a sign of good things to come, but it has placed the government’s stamp of approval on BYU’s discriminatory practices, which the government not only funds, but has now formally handed out a license to discriminate.”
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