GOP judge rules school district must allow anti-LGBTQ+ student group

In a 31-page court ruling issued late last week, conservative Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Jackson-Reed High School in Washington, D.C. has to recognize a chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), an organization that requires its leadership to oppose same-sex marriage.

“Antidiscrimination laws ‘have done much to secure the civil rights of all Americans.’ But antidiscrimination laws, like all other laws, must be applied evenhandedly and not in violation of the Constitution. Unfortunately, it appears that this command was not followed at Jackson-Reed High School,” Friedrich wrote in the ruling.

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“At this stage, FCA has shown that the District’s application of its Anti-Discrimination Policy is likely to run afoul of, at the very least, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Free Exercise Clause,” the judge added. Their statement referenced a 1993 law forbidding the government from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion as well as the Constitution’s First Amendment which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

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FCA, a Christian organization dedicated to giving a community to Christian athletes across the nation, allows students to organize their own chapters, called “huddles,” in their school districts. While the organization allows members to hold their own views on LGBTQ+ issues, it nevertheless restricts leadership from supporting same-sex marriage and requires leadership to oppose sex outside of marriage while defining homosexuality as “sexually immoral.”

In 2022, the group had a chapter at the school, where it was eligible for all the benefits of being a school-recognized club.

Jackson-Reed High School, the largest high school in D.C., derecognized FCA after complaints regarding their discriminatory views on homosexuality became apparent to school leadership. The school has strict non-discrimination policies regarding LGBTQ+ individuals, especially in compliance with D.C. law. The school said it would allow the group to remain active in the school so long as they voided the section about homosexuality from its statement of faith.

Friedrich, however, ruled that their denial of giving the organization a platform constituted a violation of religious freedom, arguing that because the school also allowed marginalized students to take priority in leadership in their own secular clubs, it was unfair to restrict the FCA chapter.

The judge remained unconvinced by arguments from Jackson-Reed that the school was acting in governmental interest, deferring back to her belief that legal protections from religious discrimination extend to those who discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals. The judge claimed, because no LGBTQ+ person would work with this organization, that no one had been or would be discriminated against for its views.

“The District can thus offer ‘only speculation’ that FCA’s reinstatement would pose an actual threat of discrimination against any Jackson-Reed student based on a protected characteristic. Such a speculative goal does not pass muster under strict scrutiny,” the judge wrote.

Friedrich, a judge appointed by former President Donald Trump who previously served as a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission appointed by former President George W. Bush and later renominated by former President Barack Obama, was a member of the Yale Federalist Society, a conservative student-body organization. She has been branded by Teen Vogue, an unlikely but proven source of political reporting, as a conservative judge.

Friedrich granted the FCA’s request that the ruling apply to Jackson-Reed. However, she denied FCA’s request that this ruling extend to all schools in the District.

LGBTQ Nation reached out to the D.C. Attorney General’s Office they did not respond before publication of this article. This article will be updated in the event they do respond.

The FCA said in a statement to LGBTQ Nation, “This is yet another big win protecting equal access for FCA and for all student groups. As a matter of both civil rights and common sense, student groups should be able to pick leaders who believe in their mission. FCA is grateful to return its efforts to serving D.C. students, coaches, teachers, and school communities.”

“For nearly 70 years, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes has held steadfast to the ideal that every athlete has the right to choose or decline to participate in religious activities and express their faith according to their individual convictions. FCA events and meetings are voluntary, and all are invited to participate,” the FCA added.

The plaintiffs in the case are the FCA and their Jackson-Reed chapter, represented by Daniel H. Blomberg, Joseph Davis, Kelly R. Oeltjenbruns, and Rich Osborne of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The defendants are the District of Columbia, chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools Lewis D. Ferebee, and D.C. Schools’ Chief Integrity Officer Cinthia Ruiz. They are represented by the Attorney General’s office, specifically Marcus Daniel Ireland and Pamela A. Disney.

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