Background
Crosspoint Church operates Bangor Christian School, a private K through twelve school that requires students and staff to adhere to its Christian statement of faith, including restrictions on sexual activity outside of marriage and gender identity. The school sought to participate in Maine’s tuition-assistance program but challenged four provisions of the Maine Human Rights Act as violating the First Amendment. The district court had denied Crosspoint’s motion for a permanent injunction, which Crosspoint appealed after stipulating to the entry of final judgment.
The court’s reasoning
The court analyzed the case alongside its companion decision in St. Dominic Academy v. Makin, finding no outcome-determinative differences between the two cases. Regarding the Employment Rule, the court held no case or controversy existed because the rule’s carveouts already permit religious organizations to hire co-religionists. On the Religious Expression Rule, the court found it unconstitutionally violated free exercise rights by discriminating between religions. For the Religious Nondiscrimination Rule and the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Rule, the court rejected claims of legislative targeting and found the rules regulated conduct rather than speech, subjecting them only to rational basis review which they survived.
We therefore affirm in part and reverse in part the district court’s order denying Crosspoint’s motion for a permanent injunction.
Slip op. at 23
What it means going forward
The decision effectively enforces the Maine Human Rights Act’s employment and general nondiscrimination requirements on religious schools receiving public tuition assistance, while prohibiting the state from enforcing the rule that would require religious schools to permit religious expression from competing faiths.