Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Conservative US Supreme Court justices appeared sympathetic toward a challenge by Catholic groups to a Colorado law barring anti-LGBT discrimination at publicly funded preschools in a case that could further bolster the rights of religious people and institutions.
The court, whose 6-3 conservative majority has taken a broad view of religious liberty, heard arguments in a bid by the Archdiocese of Denver and other Catholic entities for an exemption from a Colorado preschool funding program’s nondiscrimination requirement.
Republican President Donald Trump’s administration backed the Catholic groups in the case.
Preschools receiving public money under Colorado’s program may be public or private, secular or religious.
But under the law, preschools must give all children “equal opportunity” to enroll, regardless of the sexual orientation or gender identity of the students or their parents.
Officials in Democratic-governed Colorado have accused the Catholic preschools of seeking legal permission to discriminate against 4-year-olds and their families while receiving taxpayer dollars under the program. Lower courts upheld the program’s protections for LGBT people.
