The largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
 transgender activist group in the country
 is calling on the Department of Education 
to address what it calls a “disturbing trend” 
on college campuses.
Specifically, the Human Rights Campaign is
calling for more transparency towards what it 
sees as a trend of schools citing religious 
reasons for not adhering to Title IX.
The Human Rights Campaign believes that 
in granting such exemptions, schools are
 given  a “license to discriminate.”
Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis 
of sex in educational programs that receive 
federal funding. If schools are found in violation
 of the statute, their federal dollars could be at risk.
To address these concerns, the Human
 Rights Campaign wants the Department 
of Education to issue public reports stating 
which institutions request or receive religious 
exemptions, and to detail the scope of those
exemptions.
“We believe that religious liberty is a bedrock
 principle of our nation, however faith should 
never be used as a guise for discrimination,”
 said Human Rights Campaign President 
Chad Griffin in a press release last week. 
“Prospective students and their parents 
deserve greater transparency, and we urge
 the Department of Education to take action 
by helping to increase accountability and to 
ensure that no student unknowingly enrolls in
 a school that intends to discriminate against
 them.”
Specifically, the Human Rights Campaign is
  • The Department of Education to require 
  • schools to publish comprehensive 
  • information about the scope of the
  •  exemption they received and the way
  •  in which Title IX still protects students
  • The Department of Education to 
  • regularly report which educational 
  • institutions have been granted Title
  •  IX religious exemptions, the scope
  •  of those exemptions, and ensure the
  •  information is provided on the individual 
  • schools’ landing page as part of College
  •  Navigator
  • Congress to amend the Department of 
  • Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR)
  •  governing statute to require OCR to 
  • annually report the number of Title IX 
  • exemptions that were requested, granted,
  •  and denied
Religious schools often believe that adhering 
to Title IX conflicts with tenets of their beliefs
 including on marriage, sexual orientation, 
and abortion.
According to the Human Rights Campaign’s
 latest report, at least 56 colleges and 
universities have requested religious 
exemptions under Title IX since 2013.
Southern Wesleyan University is one of them.
A spokesman for the college confirmed to 
The Daily Signal the university “did make a
 request for a Title IX exemption, citing our
 biblically based religious principles.”
The school, which is based in S.C., is owned
 by The Wesleyan Church and adheres to
 those teachings.
Another university listed in the Human 
Rights Campaign’s report is Union University.
Hunter Baker, a fellow for religious liberty
 at Union, told The Daily Signal that the 
erosion of religious liberty exemptions, would
 make it “illegal” for schools to operate in accordance to their religious beliefs.
“If we were unable to choose faculty members 
who both live out and have a traditional view 
of Christian sexual morality, then that really
 damages our ability to pursue our mission as an institution,” Baker said. “You’re making it illegal for us to insist on a Christian life and worldview.”
Baker said it would be a “major intrusion” on 
the school’s standards of conduct for its
 student body. Union University, a Baptist 
college in Jackson, Tenn., follows a traditional
 Christian view of marriage and sexuality, for
 example.
“Any kind of activity that would occur between 
two same-sex individuals would be 
unacceptable by our standards of conduct,” he said.
Roger Severino, director of the DeVos Center 
for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage 
Foundation, calls the Human Right 
Campaign’s requests an attempt to 
“blacklist religiously-affiliated schools.”
“We need more diversity in higher education
 institutions, not less, yet [the Human Rights 
Campaign] wants to out, interrogate, and
 blacklist religiously-affiliated schools that 
assert their right to continue to embody 
and pass on their teachings about marriage 
and human sexuality consistent with their 
faith,” he said, adding:
The real story is the Department of

Education’s attempt to force schools to

provide unrestricted access to shared

dorms, lockers, bathrooms and showers

to persons who self-identify as male, female,

none, or both, regardless of their biology

or genetics. No one should be surprised

when religious schools push back on this unprecedented federal intrusion.
The Daily Signal reached out to The Human
 Rights Campaign for comment, but they did 
not respond to our request.