The U.S. Department of Justice said in a court filing that it intends to defend an exemption for religious schools and universities from an anti-discrimination federal law. The filing (pdf) comes in response to a class action lawsuit brought against the U.S. Department of Education by a coalition of current and former students from over 20 colleges associated with evangelical Christianity and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The students, identifying as “LGBTQ+,” alleged that they experienced discrimination at those schools because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP), an LGBTQ advocacy group, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the students in March in an Oregon federal court. The suit seeks to challenge the application of Title IX, which outlaws sex-based discrimination in institutions that accept federal funding except those “controlled by a religious organization.” Three Christian universities, along with the Council …