The University of Texas at San Antonio agreed Friday to allow a job posting seeking married, pro-life Christian houseparents after the university first refused, saying it was discriminatory.
The job listing was from Adoption Priorities, a Christian organization that helps with adoptions and runs a residential facility that serves expectant women in need. The organization seeks houseparents, who would work to help the facility’s residents. The Alliance Defense Fund, The Justice Foundation and Liberty Institute worked together to persuade UTSA to permit the posting.
“Christian organizations shouldn’t be discriminated against for their beliefs and denied equal access to public university services that are available to everyone else,” says Gregory S. Baylor, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. “UTSA did the right thing by allowing the announcement, but the larger battle isn’t over. More and more universities are excluding Christian organizations from their campuses and are thereby communicating the message that groups are free to use their facilities and services only if they don’t practice their religion.”
After UTSA denied the original request to post the Adoption Priorities employment notice, ADF and its allies sent a letter to university officials, urging them to allow the posting or face legal action. According to ADF, they provided UTSA with information proving that Adoption Priorities is a “religious employer,” and they are entitled to religious exemptions in federal and state anti-discrimination laws. UTSA then agreed to the job posting.
“Religious employers preserve their religious character and advance their religious missions by hiring employees who share their beliefs,” Baylor explained. “Adoption Priorities wanted houseparents who would model Christian living, offer Christian guidance to women in crisis pregnancies, and, most of all, encourage them not to get abortions. An unmarried, non-Christian, pro-abortion couple simply could not do that job.”
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