Religious schools that don’t embrace the new federal guidelines on gender identity and sexual orientation may still receive federal meal funding, the Agriculture Department said.
Under Title IX, schools that receive federal dollars to pay for meals through the Agriculture Department’s National School Lunch Program may not discriminate on the basis of sex. In May, however, the Department announced that it has adopted a new definition of the term “sex” to cover gender identity and sexual orientation.
Although Title IX includes a religious exemption, the reinterpretation of the federal law has raised concerns among religious schools that enforce sex-specific dress codes, maintain sex-separated restrooms or sports teams, or prohibit using pronouns that don’t match someone’s biological sex….