A church and associated preschool has filed a federal lawsuit in a California district court because the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has barred religious organizations from receiving public funding. Feeding poverty-stricken children at the preschool isn't allowed because the church holds traditional religious beliefs regarding human sexuality.

This situation not only demonstrates the hypocrisy of supposedly inclusive sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) laws, it reveals just how these laws are used against those with traditional beliefs. Instead of bringing equality to all California residents, SOGI laws are used as a weapon with which to bludgeon religious-based organizations into submission.

The Church of Compassion and its preschool Dayspring Christian Learning Center, located in Southern California, have been jointly meeting their neighbors’ needs for over twenty years. One of the ways they’ve been doing that is via the state-funded Child and Adult Care Food Program. In El Cajon, there is a large immigrant population. 40% of the children attending the preschool live below the poverty level and receive tuition assistance. The program is thus a vital part of these families' lives.

The Dayspring preschool serves all families and children, including several LGBT families. Still, the California Department of Social Services required that anyone receiving funds via the state’s food program must also comply with new mandates as of 2022. This means signing new Civil Rights Compliance paperwork that now includes sexual orientation and gender identity under its discrimination clause. Since the church and preschool hold orthodox beliefs about sexuality, they could not, in good faith, sign the paperwork. The church requested a modification.

After threatening the church to comply, the California Department of Social Services eventually cut off funds due to this refusal to sign the anti-discrimination paperwork — which the church viewed as an abdication of their beliefs — and the fact that they require staff to read a handbook which disallows LGBT lifestyles.

"Our Preschool serves all families, but we do not want the government to force us to replace our core values and the essential beliefs of our Christian faith or make us agree to adopt and express the state’s contrary beliefs," said Kelly Wade, Dayspring’s principal, in a statement. Part of the complaint reads :

Anti-discrimination laws are designed to ensure the marginalized in society are treated equally under the law. These laws should not be used to target religious people who have been holding the same beliefs about sexuality for centuries, as is their constitutional right.

Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She is an opinion columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.