A federal judge has ruled that Colorado officials cannot deny universal preschool funds to a Christian school over campus policies upholding the biblical belief in two biological sexes.
In the decision issued Saturday, U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico blocked the state from excluding Darren Patterson Christian Academy from the taxpayer-funded program on the basis that affirming only male and female sexes violates anti-discrimination requirements.
“Exclusion of a preschool is inherently anti-universal, and denying participation based on one’s protected beliefs or speech is not equitable,” wrote Judge Domenico, a Trump appointee.
The ruling also forbade state officials from punishing the Buena Vista school and denied their request to dismiss a religious discrimination lawsuit the campus filed in June.
State officials named as defendants in the lawsuit did not respond to emails seeking comment on the ruling.
Colorado’s universal preschool program, which took effect July 1, guarantees every 4-year-old in the state at least 15 hours per week of state-funded preschool services. The program allows families to attend any participating preschool free of charge.
The lawsuit said the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and the Universal Preschool Program informed Darren Patterson it would have to be open to hiring transgender employees at its Busy Bees preschool and abolish policies requiring students to use the clothing, restrooms and pronouns corresponding to their sex assigned at birth.
State officials also instructed the private Christian campus to change policies requiring staff members to share biblical values and chaperone kids of the same biological sex on overnight trips to be eligible for the funding, school administrators said.
That amounts to “requiring the school to forfeit its religious status, beliefs, and exercise” in violation of First Amendment freedoms of religion, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for Colorado.
It noted that the school accepts children from all religious backgrounds despite requiring that they conform to their biological sex while on campus.
Darren Patterson has operated Busy Bees under a state license since 1982. According to the suit, the school registered for the universal preschool program in the hope of expanding enrollment.
The lawsuit says state officials initially approved the campus for funding, then reversed course and denied its request for a religious exemption after learning about the gender and sexuality policies.
In response, the school refused to change its rules, pointing out that its religious beliefs are why many parents enroll their children.
Siding with the school, Judge Domenico based part of his decision on the Supreme Court’s ruling in June that Colorado could not use state anti-discrimination laws to make a wedding website designer create websites for same-sex weddings.
Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group that represented Darren Patterson Christian Academy in court, welcomed the ruling.
“The government cannot force religious schools to abandon their beliefs and exercise to participate in a public benefit program that everyone else can access,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jeremiah Galus, the school’s lawyer.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.