multnomah university seminary

Multnomah University is an evangelical college and seminary located on Northeast Glisan Street in Portland.

(Multnomah University)

The U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday it will publish detailed information about religious schools that receive federal permission to discriminate based on sex, gender identity and sexual orientation, despite receiving federal funds.

That information is likely to put some religious schools in the hot seat for policies that aren't flattering in today's social climate -- including colleges in or near Portland.

The decision came after a handful of senators -- including Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. -- called for greater transparency regarding Title IX exemptions.

Let's establish some background before moving on:

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 made it illegal for any federally funded education program or activity to discriminate on the basis of sex. Since then, the government has ruled the policy applies to sexual orientation and, most recently, transgender and gender nonconforming individuals.

Want more?

.

Also,

.

Religious schools have always had the option to apply for an exemption to aspects of the law that conflict with the their faith. Requests for waivers surged in the last two years, after the government began applying the law to transgender people.

The first exemption for policies on transgender people went to George Fox University in Newberg and Simpson University in California on May 23, 2014, according to The New York Times.

Last month, the Portland Mercury, an alternative weekly paper, published a critical article about Multnomah University, an evangelical college and seminary in Northeast Portland, for applying for a similar waiver. Multnomah University's request letter states that to allow transgender students to choose the restroom, locker room and dorms they want to use based on the gender with which they identify would violate the school's religious tenets.

OK. So what does the Department of Education's decision mean for religious colleges?

The Department of Education announced they would publish copies of schools' exemption request letters on the department's website "sometime in the coming months."

"I think that's a good thing," said Craig Williford, president of Multnomah University. "We support the transparency 100 percent."

But a waiver request is a legal document, not a statement of faith or even internal policy guideline, Williford said.

Title IX exemptions are meant to protect religious schools from sticky legal situations, and therefore create as much wiggle room as possible. Religious schools might ask for the right to deny transgender students admission or counseling, but never act on that authority.

When the Department of Education publishes those request letters, dozens of schools will likely be criticized for their legal policies -- some of which are outdated, and many of which might not reflect the school's actual treatment of LGBT students and faculty.

For example, Multnomah University's active exemption was composed in 1989 and includes policies limiting women's employment opportunities and access to certain academic programs.

"It's horrible. I wish I could retract it," Williford said. "The good news now is that women are on our board, they have access to all academic programs."

-- Melissa Binder

mbinder@oregonian.com

503-294-7656

@binderpdx