A hit list of Christian colleges?
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Education has agreed to create a searchable database to publicize which Christian colleges and universities have applied for exemptions from a 44-year-old gender-equality law. The announcement comes a month after the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy group, accused Christian institutions of “hidden discrimination” for obtaining Title IX waivers. The same day HRC released its report , Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and seven other Democratic senators asked the agency to increase transparency around the exemptions, which they said “allow for discrimination under the guise of religious liberty.” Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and is best known for requiring equity between men’s and women’s athletic teams. But in 2014, the Department of Education expanded its interpretation of the word “sex” to include gender identity—meaning, for example, a male student who identifies as