The U.S. Department of Education has dismissed a civil-rights investigation into how LGBTQ students are disciplined at Brigham Young University, saying it doesn't have the authority to enforce the matter at the private religious school.
The complaint under investigation came after the school said it would still enforce a ban on same-sex dating even after that section was removed from the written version of the school’s honor code. Students can be punished for holding hands or kissing someone of the same sex, harsher discipline than that faced by heterosexual couples at the school operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
BYU announced the decision Thursday, sharing a letter it received from the Department of Education earlier this week that explained the finding that the college is exempt from parts of Title IX, the law that protects against discrimination on the basis of sex in schools.
