Days after getting hit with a federal lawsuit, President Joe Biden and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D-Florida) have approved Grant Park Christian Academy's application for funding to continue serving free meals to low-income children enrolled at the school.
"We filed a motion that would get us before the court, seeking urgent relief just to ensure that the school would be able to serve meals when they start classes on Wednesday," explains attorney Erica Steinmiller-Perdomo of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the law firm representing the school. "The court set a hearing for Thursday, August 11th."
American Family News has reported that a new change under Title IX means participating schools lose their ability to get school lunch funding unless they comply with the Biden administration's radical expansion of "sex" to include sexual orientation and gender identity in all school operations.
"Grant Park Christian Academy's religious beliefs, including its understanding of the nature of the human person and marriage and family, preclude it from complying with this federal mandate to substitute gender identity for biological sex in any aspect of its activities, especially when it comes to males sharing restrooms with females," an ADF press release says about the case.
But ADF was recently contacted by "federal and state officials backing down" over the issue with Grant Park.
"They essentially conceded that Grant Park Christian Academy is entitled to a religious exemption under federal law," Steinmiller-Perdomo relays.
ADF was also told that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be issuing a letter to the school saying that it was granted a religious exemption that ADF had requested.
"The school's application to participate in the lunch program for the year is going to be approved," Steinmiller-Perdomo continues. "Right now, we are happy to say that the school is going to be able to proceed as planned, that they'll receive the necessary funding and that the kids are going to be able to get school meals on Wednesday."
The court date for this week has been canceled.
