Kerby Anderson

Imagine dropping your daughter off at a Christian college. You help her set up her dorm room. As you give her a final hug goodbye, you learn that her roommate is a male. That is the scenario that attorney Julie Marie Blake describes. She, and other ADF attorneys, are representing Missouri’s College of the Ozarks. Their lawsuit is challenging the Biden Administration rule that forces faith-based institutions to abandon their beliefs. A little history is in order. The Fair Housing Act was implemented more than fifty years ago to prevent landlords from denying housing opportunities based on such characteristics as race or sex. President Biden signed an executive order this year to add sexual orientation and gender identity as new aspects of sex discrimination. Christian colleges and universities can now be forced to open residential spaces such as dorm rooms, showers, and bathrooms to members of the opposite sex. A Christian college has only a few choices. Either they could abandon their religious beliefs and comply, or they can refuse and pay massive fines in the six-figure range. The College of the Ozarks’ complaint fell on deaf ears in the district court, so the case is now before the 8^th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The case will be heard next month. Many other private religious schools will be watching what happens. These Christian colleges and universities have a constitutional right to provide separate male and female dorms, showers, and locker rooms. This radical change in definition was not approved by Congress but was changed by President Biden’s executive order. The judges must protect the religious liberties of the College of the Ozarks and other colleges and universities.