Ninth Circuit Sides With Fuller Seminary in Expulsion of Students in Same Sex Marriages

The Ninth Circuit has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit by a lower court ruling that the removal of two Fuller Seminary students in separate same sex marriages was allowed under a religious exemption under Title IX, according to Courthouse News.

Joanna Maxon and Nathan Brittsan were kicked out of Fuller Seminary in 2019 and 2017, respectively, after college officials discovered they were in same-sex marriages. In a lawsuit, they claimed their civil rights were violated and they suffered emotional distress.

“To the extent that plaintiffs were dismissed because their marriages were with spouses of the same sex, rather than the opposite sex, plaintiffs’ claim fails because the religious exemption applies to shield these religiously motivated decisions that would otherwise violate Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination,” the panel wrote in an unpublished opinion.

In their opinion, the judges did not contemplate if the school’s enforcement of its policy fell outside the Title IX exemption because the students offered no facts to support that claim, Courthouse News reported.

“Plaintiffs have advanced nothing more than conclusory assertions that Fuller engages in this sort of differential treatment, and they have conceded that they cannot currently advance any more-specific allegations even if given leave to amend,” the panel wrote in a footnote to the ruling.

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit against the seminary in 2020, and concluded the Pasadena-based seminary did not violate Title IX, a follow up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to end discrimination in various fields based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the areas of employment and public accommodation.

Religious institutions are entitled to some exemptions from Title IX nondiscrimination rules. The protection to those institutions is broad, some legal experts say.

The ninth circuit also rejected claims that the school was required to notify the federal Department of Education that it was claiming a religious exemption, although a regulation enacted in May 2020 clearly requires notice in writing, according to Thursday’s story.

However, the panel ruled that requirement conflicts with the language of the law and practices at the department.

“The language of Title IX does not condition an institution’s ability to claim the religious exemption on filing written notice or on any other process—the exemption is mandatory and automatic,” the panel wrote.