Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 25, 2023 / 16:55 pm
A Christian school will be allowed to participate in Colorado’s universal preschool program after a judge ruled Oct. 20 that the state cannot discriminate against the school based on its religious beliefs about gender ideology.
Colorado District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico forbade the Colorado Department of Early Childhood from withholding funds from the Darren Patterson Christian Academy because of its policies related to gender.
The school, which calls itself “Christ-centered,” separates dress codes and bathrooms based on biological sex and prohibits the use of pronouns inconsistent with a person’s biological sex, regardless of his or her self-proclaimed gender identity. School policy also requires parents to agree that they will “support and uphold the school staff and the religious mission, intent, policies, rules, and requirements.”
“The government cannot force religious schools to abandon their beliefs and exercise to participate in a public benefit program that everyone else can access,” Alliance Defending Freedom Counsel Jeremiah Galus, who is representing the school in the lawsuit, said in a statement.