St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy

Lambda Legal filed an amicus brief to the United State Supreme Court in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a case challenging the nondiscrimination requirements applicable to all schools receiving state funding under Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program. Specifically, the parish, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, claims that requiring them to admit children of LGBTQ parents or LGBTQ children to their pre-K program in order to participate in the program violates their Free Exercise rights. Not only are they seeking a free pass to discriminate on the state’s dime, but they are also pushing a dramatic change to how the Court considers Free Exercise challenges in cases involving government funding. 

Lambda Legal partnered with our colleagues at GLAD Law to file a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Colorado’s nondiscrimination requirements, which ensure that the doors of all pre-kindergarten programs that receive state funding are open to all students and families. The brief pushes back at the efforts of the Becket Fund and the groups supporting them to make it easier for religious entities to opt out of requirements like these, reminding the Court that its existing doctrinal frameworks can already answer these questions. It further argues that Colorado has a compelling state interest in protecting the children of LGBTQ parents and LGBTQ children from the high levels of discrimination they already encounter in school settings and the harms those experiences cause. When the state gives funding to private organizations to carry out services on its behalf, it has an obligation to make sure the state is not complicit in discrimination, especially against young children.