Lutheran School Not Liable for Ousting Kissing Girls, Court Rules

A California appeals court has ruled a Lutheran school isn’t liable for ousting two girls who told friends they were lesbians and admitted that they had hugged and kissed.

The court held the Lutheran school is not a business that is subject to the state’s anti-bias law, the Los Angeles Times reports. Lawyers on both sides of the case told the newspaper the ruling would protect private religious schools in California from bias suits under the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act.

The lawyer for the girls, Kirk Hanson, vowed to appeal. He told the newspaper the ruling allowed private schools to discriminate as long as they cited religious beliefs as the reason.