TULSA, Okla. — One week after a judge announced the dismissal of a lawsuit against the Department of Education, those alleging systemic discrimination tell 2 News Oklahoma their fight is not over.
Title IX instructs institutions can't get federal funding if they exclude or discriminate on the basis of sex.
Lawyers for dozens of plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued schools shouldn't get religious exemptions from Title IX, but a federal judge ruled there’s not enough evidence a religious exemption is discriminatory against LGBTQ students.
2021 ORU graduate and LGBTQ rights advocate Andrew Hartzler disagrees.
“While I was at ORU during my junior year I was reported for homosexual activity, as they say. Ultimately I was called to the dean’s office and subjected to conversion therapy-like practices if I didn’t want to be expelled,” Hartzler said.
Hartzler said his experience is similar to more than 40 others named in the case of Elizabeth Hunter, Et Al Vs. U.S. Department of Education, which includes three other former ORU students.
“You felt like you had to suppress a part of yourself," Hartzler added. "And you are actively being preached at. Like during chapel, that your sexuality was immorally wrong and that you were encouraged to change that. And if you didn’t change that, you were subjected to punishment.”
But on January 12, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken, a Clinton appointee with a progressive record, dismissed the suit and said the plaintiffs
“...have not pled ‘factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.’”
Lead attorney Paul Carlos Southwick represents the plaintiffs, including Hartzler, and plans to file an appeal.
“Whether you’re queer or straight, you should be able to attend any school that is funded by your tax money,” Southwick said.
Although Oral Roberts wasn’t directly named in the lawsuit, Southwick said their sexual misconduct policy, which prohibits "any homosexual activity", is a classic example.
“This generation of students, and including this generation of evangelical students - they are not standing for it. And that’s why you see so many people like Andrew and others rising up on their campuses holding protests, arguing to their boards of trustees saying, ‘We want an inclusive and safe campus for our LGBTQ+ classmates.”
“So many people don’t realize this is happening right now, and federal money is being used Citizens," Hartzler said. "Taxpayers are being used to fund this discrimination and the government doesn’t bat an eye at it. And it needs to stop.”
2 News Oklahoma reached out to Oral Roberts University for comment on the legal case’s dismissal, and to ask if campus policy for LGBTQ+ students could change. After an email and follow-up phone call over the two days, no response was received.
As for what's next, Southwick said his team are working on an appeal to the Ninth District Federal Court of Appeals.
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