7th Circuit Common Sense: Christian Group Need Not Admit Active Gays

A federal court has issued a ruling that makes a rare brush with reason.

Per Inside Higher Ed, the US Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit has made permanent an injunction barring the University of Southern Illinois from enforcing its antidiscrimination policy regarding sexual orientation against a chapter of the Christian Legal Society.

The ruling appears to recognize that the Christian group has a right to regulate its membership according to its beliefs and to be accorded the same powers of discriminating in membership granted to other religious groups or to gender-based groups. Further, the CLS had argued that it did not forbid persons of homosexual orientation to belong, only people who engaged in sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage, and so actually adhered to SIU's antidiscrimination policy.

This ruling, along with the recent ruling in New York that same-sex couples have no right to "marriage," suggests that not everything in the legal sphere is heading towards Gehenna. Or at least not everything is headed there at the same rate.