The start of the erosion of religious liberty emanating from the Supreme Court’s decision that approved same-sex marriage throughout the nation is officially underway. The Washington Post observes that because “real money” is involved in legal marriage, the ruling could cause religious schools that ban homosexual relationships and cohabitation to suffer “in a big way” with the loss of tax-exempt status and accreditation.
“Marriage is a potent symbol, first and foremost, but it also means real money,” wrote Max Ehrenfreund at WaPo Friday. “Same-sex couples pay all kinds of unexpected costs if they can’t marry, and housing and benefits at religious institutions is another example.”
Similarly, in anticipation of the Court’s decision in Obergefell, Laurie Goodstein and Adam Liptak of the New York Times wrote Wednesday:
Conservative religious schools all over the country forbid same-sex relationships, from dating to couples’ living in married-student housing, and they fear they will soon be forced to make a wrenching choice. If the Supreme Court this month finds a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, the schools say they will have to abandon their policies that prohibit gay relationships or eventually risk losing their tax-exempt status.
According to the Times, the Internal Revenue Service may feel compelled to remove the tax-exempt status of religious schools if they continue to ban gay relationships and cohabitation “as a violation of a ‘fundamental national public policy’ under the reasoning of a 1983 Supreme Court decision that allowed the agency to revoke the tax-exempt status of schools that banned interracial relationships.”
Conservative religious schools all over the country forbid same-sex relationships, from dating to couples’ living in married-student housing, and they fear they will soon be forced to make a wrenching choice. If the Supreme Court this month finds a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, the schools say they will have to abandon their policies that prohibit gay relationships or eventually risk losing their tax-exempt status.
