A Law Club For (Straight) Members Only

By Peter Bailey

In a series of lawsuits that rely on the legal precedent set by the Boy Scouts of America in 2000, a Christian law group is battling university officials across the country to be allowed to bar gay members. The bylaws of the 42-year-old Christian Legal Society, which was founded to foster Christian fellowship in the law profession, permit only gays who have repented their sins to join. Because of this rule, college officials denied registration to several of the association's 80 chapters, stripping them of funding. "We have a strict policy against discrimination that won't be compromised," says Fran Marsh, spokeswoman for the University of California's Hastings School of Law in San Francisco, where students belonging to the society filed a suit last month claiming that their constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and religion were being violated. The group has launched six legal challenges, including one last week at Arizona State University in Tempe. Two of the suits have been resolved in the society's favor. "These students have the right to restrict membership based on their beliefs," says Steven Aden, who represents the Hastings chapter. Gay students there responded to the suit by organizing a beer bash to "toast diversity" and signing a petition calling for Hastings to stand by its policy. Dina Haddad of the Hastings chapter is hoping the group's legal winning streak will continue. But until the issue is resolved, she says, "we'll just keep on praying." --By Peter Bailey