A public high school in Illinois has approved a student’s request for a religious exemption from a required sexuality program after a national legal group voiced concern that the student faced the threat of possible discipline for her refusal to take part in the program.
A high school student in Illinois will face a disciplinary hearing this week over her refusal to participate in the school’s gender and sexuality program after her parents requested that she be exempt from the requirement.
A national religious freedom legal nonprofit sent a demand letter to the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora on Tuesday, arguing that the three-year residential public school unlawfully denied religious accommodations to Marcail McBride to excuse her from attending the school’s Student Gender and Sexuality Program.
According to the letter sent by two First Liberty Institute lawyers, the McBrides have “repeatedly communicated” to the school that the required program “violates Marcail’s religious beliefs.”
Press release content from Globe Newswire. The AP news staff was not involved in its creation.
Illinois Student Faces School Disciplinary Hearing for Refusing to Participate in Sexuality Program
First Liberty InstituteFebruary 2, 2021 GMT
AURORA, Ill., Feb. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Today, First Liberty Institute sent a letter to the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (“IMSA”) demanding that it immediately approve senior Marcail McBride’s request for a religious accommodation exempting her from the school’s Student Gender and Sexuality Program.
You can read the letter, here.
“Under Illinois law, schools must provide religious accommodations for their students, and they must also honor requests to excuse students from programs with sexual content,” said Keisha Russell, Counsel to First Liberty Institute. “Schools should never violate the religious conscience of their students. We hope President Torres ends the school administrators’ clearly unlawful beh