A church in California that runs a food program for students filed a lawsuit Friday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the state’s Department of Social Services (CDSS) for revoking federal funding over the church’s beliefs on gender and sexuality.
The Church of Compassion in El Cajon, California, runs the Dayspring Learning Center, which receives $3,500-$4,500 in federal funding for a food program for its impoverished preschool students, according to the lawsuit. In December 2022, however, the center was suspended from USDA’s “Child and Adult Food Care Program,” claiming that it was not compliant with the “‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ nondiscrimination provisions,” prompting the church to file the lawsuit June 2. (RELATED: FBI Offering $15,000 Reward For Information About Threats To Nebraska Religious Centers)
The center had participated in USDA’s program for nearly 20 years, according to the lawsuit, but in 2021 the department issued a new regulation that amended Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Additionally, in May 2022, the department also sent a “‘Policy Update’ to all state directors of USDA’s food and nutrition service programs prohibiting … discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.”
CASE FILED: We’ve sued the Biden admin and CA officials for unlawfully pulling federal food funds from a church preschool, due to the school’s beliefs on sexuality.
The school feeds many low-income & immigrant children. Hungry kids should matter more than a political agenda.
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) June 5, 2023
The Church of Compassion failed to meet these requirements during the application process for the 2022-2023 school year due to its “orthodox religious beliefs regarding human sexuality,” according to the lawsuit. An October notice from Jessie Rosales, chief of the Child and Adult Care Food Programs of the California Department of Social Services, further explained that by not complying with the nondiscrimination policy and requiring “employees to read and abide by a handbook that specifically disallows ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender lifestyles,'” the church would lose thousands in funding for its food program.
In the lawsuit, Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal firm representing the church, argued that the departments’ decision violated the religious rights of the church under the First Amendment.
“The government is withholding food from families in need simply because their children attend a Christian preschool,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jeremiah Galus said in a statement. “Ironically, in the name of combatting discrimination, government officials have excluded the church and preschool from serving the El Cajon community based solely on their religious beliefs and exercise. This is antithetical to the First Amendment’s promise of religious freedom and only hurts needy families and children.”
A CDSS spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that it could not comment on pending litigation.
USDA did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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