The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a 70-year-old international religious group that was barred from Jackson-Reed in 2022 following accusations of LGBTQ+ discrimination, has returned to the school after a federal judge ruled this summer.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in May, the FCA argued that DCPS’s ban violated a federal law protecting religious freedom. U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich issued a preliminary injunction ordering DCPS to recognize an FCA chapter at Jackson-Reed.
The litigation is ongoing, and the ruling does not apply to other DCPS schools.
As the Beacon reported in 2022, the FCA had a presence at JR before the pandemic. After school reopened, the group briefly received DCPS recognition. But Paul Legere, a former Jackson-Reed parent, complained that the FCA discriminated against the LGBTQ+ community.
Legere filed a grievance against the FCA with DCPS asserting that JR was “allowing and supporting an organization that is actively against the LGBTQ+ community.” The group requires student and adult leaders to sign a “sexual purity” statement asserting that marriage should be between men and women and prohibiting homosexuality.
The FCA removed the statement from its DC website in 2022 after The Beacon reported on the dispute.
After an investigation by its Comprehensive Alternative Resolution and Equity Team (CARE), DCPS revoked recognition of the FCA at JR, banning club activities and removing the club from the school website. The decision said the group violated DC laws and policies on human rights and antidiscrimination. The FCA filed two unsuccessful appeals before suing in federal court.
This court ruling overturned DCPS’s ban. The FCA argued that DCPS applied its antidiscrimination policy selectively, using clubs such as the Asian Student Union and Girls Who Code as examples. It said religious groups were punished under the policy while secular groups were exempt.
In her ruling, Friedrich wrote, “anti-discrimination laws, like all other laws, must be applied evenhandedly and not in violation of the Constitution.” She said DCPS “applied its Anti-Discrimination Policy selectively, punishing a religious organization while exempting secular student groups,”
“I am disappointed in the ruling,” Legere told The Beacon. “I feel that the court documents confirm that the FCA is a group that proudly discriminates against the LGBTQ+ community in its core beliefs.”
Still, Legere said he believes his actions brought necessary attention to the issue. “I was primarily seeking to raise awareness in the school community of FCA’s policies and from that perspective, I feel that the grievance was successful,” he said.
The JR chapter currently has two staff sponsors, math teacher Grant Franke and technology instructional coach David Thompson, and four student leaders, seniors Liam Blick and Timothy Brandt, and juniors Talita Travis and Suri Skrine.
Blick and Travis were approached by Jolee Paden, the FCA area director in DC, after the ruling. “I was [contacted over] Instagram,” said Blick. Thompson, having heard about the chapter, asked Franke if he wanted a co-sponsor.
Franke said he did not initially want to supervise the FCA this year because he sponsored another club and had family commitments. He agreed to return to the club after seven other teachers declined to get involved.
“I saw that there were some students who really wanted this club and since we couldn’t find another teacher it was either not going to exist because of a teacher or I could put my name on it,” Franke said. He added that the lawsuit “left a bad taste in my mouth.”
The JR website now states that “leaders must be able to affirm FCA’s Christian Community Statement.” Franke specified that “anybody who wanted to become a member of the club would not have to sign any pledge.”
The FCA hosted a booth at the Club Fair where they handed out bracelets reading “FCA DC” on one side with a Biblical passage on the other. Franke said 24 students expressed interest at the Club Fair. The group plans to meet once or twice a week, according to Blick, and host Bible studies, devotionals, prayers, and guest speakers. 14 students attended the first meeting.
In an interview with The Beacon, Paden said that “the purpose of any FCA huddle”—the group’s term for meetings or discussion groups—“is to offer student-athletes a place to come together for prayer, Bible study, service, and community.”
She rejected the allegations of homophobia. “For more than 70 years, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes has held steadfast to the ideal that every athlete has the right to choose or decline to participate in religious activities and express their faith according to their individual convictions,” she said.
The JR chapter’s leadership is unsure whether they will face backlash this year. Legere is not planning to take further legal action as he is no longer an active member of the JR community. Principal Sah Brown declined to comment, citing the open litigation.
“This could go any direction,” Franke said. “If some people felt bad about it before, I imagine that they still feel the same way. The difference is that [those complaints] have no weight to them anymore. The FCA is allowed to exist in schools.”
