A bill in the Colorado legislature that would have allowed religious clubs on the state’s college campuses to set rules on faith for its leaders died on a party-line vote in a House committee Monday.
Rep. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, the bill’s sponsor, said the bill was about allowing religious groups to elect members of their faith as leaders, without risking a discrimination claim.
Opponents said it was about skirting a 1999 Supreme Court decision in Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez, which stated a student Christian organization recognized by a public university must accept non-Christians and gays as members.
Under the Colorado bill, religious clubs still would be required to accept anyone as a member, but it sought to exempt club leaders.
“It is only natural that a religious group would want its leaders to agree with its sincerely held religious beliefs,” Priola said.
He said outside groups could flood the membership and attempt to elect someone to either change the club or cause it to get barred from campus for refusing to allow the election.
Reps. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, and Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, said the bill was an attempt to discriminate by using religion, specifically against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students, from leadership, if not membership.
Roderick Harger, president of St. Joseph Campus Ministry at the Colorado School of Mines, said it’s about religious identity, not discrimination.
“Redefining the leadership would redefine the faith that we all share as Roman Catholics in a Roman Catholic group,” he said.
Andrew Englund, a University of Colorado Denver student, said religious groups are welcome to form among students, but they should not be allowed to discriminate and still be a campus affiliate.
“The bill seeks to limit leadership opportunities available to some of my friends through school-sponsored programs by funding clubs that discriminate against them,” he said.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joeybunch
