Supreme Court to decide if college group must allow gays, nonbelievers to get university nod

Court to decide if college group must allow gays

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will decide whether a California law school must force a Christian group to admit gays, lesbians and nonbelievers to gain stature as an official campus organization.

The high court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from a chapter of the Christian Legal Society at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law. A federal judge had turned aside the group’s attempt to force the school to give it campus funding and other benefits without opening its membership to gays, lesbians and nonbelievers — a requirement of the San Francisco school.

The 30-member Hastings group was told in 2004 that it was being denied recognition, including university funding and benefits, because of its policy of exclusion.