NEW YORK — When Jace Dulohery started school at Oklahoma Christian University in 2020, no one knew he was transgender. He had already begun to medically and socially transition, and no one questioned him living in male housing his freshman year.
However, when he opened up to a resident assistant about being trans that year, the information made its way up the administrative ladder at the school, which is affiliated with the Churches of Christ."There's just no room for a normal college experience when there's actual discrimination happening," Dulohery told ABC News."This is not Christian behavior. This is not loving. This is not merciful. This is not compassionate. This is not of God. This is harmful.
He, other LGBTQ students and allies hope that the ongoing national debate about LGBTQ discrimination in education can push their movement forward and put an end to Title IX's religious exemption. The agency can deny a school's claim if it doesn't believe its actions are within the religious tenets. Even if a school has a religious exemption, students can still file complaints against schools for discrimination, the education department said.There are more than 100,000 LGBTQ students attending religious colleges and universities across the U.S., according to the LGBTQ advocacy group the Religious Exemption Accountability Project .
"Universally, Churches of Christ believe that all sexual relations outside of a heterosexual marriage covenant, are sin," read the 2014 letter to the Department of Education from university President John deSteiguer. Michael O'Keefe, who was a tenured art professor at the university for about 40 years was fired after inviting a gay man, former OC professor and alumnus Scott Hale, to speak to his class in an annual speaker series.
Oklahoma Christian University declined ABC News' request for comment on O'Keefe's and Dulohery's allegations. The lawsuit, filed in Oregon federal court in March 2021, aims to"put an end to the U.S. Department of Education’s complicity in the abuses and unsafe conditions thousands of LGBTQ+ students endure at hundreds of taxpayer-funded, religious colleges and universities.
The lawsuit represents 33 LGBTQ students and alumni from various religious colleges and universities from across the country. "The Title IX religious exemption has proven indispensable as contemporary notions of sexuality and gender depart, often substantially, from the religious beliefs that animate every aspect of Christian campus life," said the CCCU in a court filing to join the litigation as a defendant, since the group would be affected by the outcome.
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