NPR's Story on Title IX and Religious Institutions Lacks Context

Yesterday NPR ran a story on All Things Considered addressing the conflicts some religious institutions face between upholding their religious beliefs and respecting/including LGBT individuals and identities. I liked that the story, and its counterpart on yesterday's Morning Edition, captured some of the nuance and avoided the reductionist narrative of Christians versus Queers. Listeners heard from college administrators at Christian institutions that respect and support LGBT students, as well as from LGBT students who, as Christians themselves, appreciate and genuinely feel included by their Christian college communities.

But when ATC's segment turned its focus on the supposed fear and worry on the part of some Christian institutions that they could lose federal funding if they do not endorse LGBT rights, the framing of this story started playing into Christian propaganda.  The report neglected to include important context that shows there is no actual reason for religious institutions to worry.

First, OCR has never revoked any institution's federal funding in the entire lifetime of Title IX. Though general, that seems like kind of an important point to make when specifically discussing concern that this could happen.

Second, thanks to the current presidential administration, OCR will not enforce Title IX's application to transgender rights. This was mentioned briefly in the report, but its significance was not addressed. Religious institutions have zero reason to fear that OCR is going to start requiring institutions of any kind, religious or not, to house transgender students or let them use facilities according to their gender identities. (Courts are another story, but courts do not have the power to revoke federal funding.) 
 
Third, even confining religious institutions' fear to the anticipation that OCR could in the future return to its former position on LGBT rights, it still needs to be emphasized that Title IX exempts religious institutions from any part of Title IX that conflicts with their religious beliefs.  All a religious institution has to do is send in a letter that explains what part of Title IX conflicts with what religious tenet.

Fourth -- and this was completely missing from the story -- since 1976, OCR has handed out these religious exemptions like candy.  Not one single exemption request has ever been denied. Even the previous administration granted all the exemption requests it received from Christian colleges seeking to preserve their right to discriminate against LGBT students.  There is absolutely no reason to think that OCR would pick this moment to break with 40+ years of precedent and start denying or revoking those exemption requests.

The framing of this story bothered me because the current administration has done everything it can to support religious freedom, and everything it can to roll back LGBT civil rights. Yet somehow the narrative of this story is that the civil rights of religious institutions are the ones at risk.  This is exactly what the right wing media does when it reports, for example, on the imaginary war on Christmas.  I hoped for better from mainstream media.