Opinion ID: 2350429
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Balancing the Compelling Governmental Interest against the Burden on Religious Exercise

Text: Given that the District of Columbia has a compelling governmental interest in eradicating sexual orientation discrimination, we must determine whether that interest outweighs the burden enforcement of the Human Rights Act would impose on Georgetown's religious exercise. In this case, compelling equal access to the tangible benefits, without requiring the intangible endorsement contained in University Recognition, imposes a relatively slight burden on Georgetown's religious practice. As Georgetown itself concedes, [t]he only tangible benefits plaintiffs could receive by the grant of official recognition are relatively insignificant  such as mailing and computer labeling services. Supplemental Brief at 2. It then argues that [s]uch minor perquisites cannot outweigh the substantial burden on the University's religious liberty that would flow from compelled recognition of the student groups. Id. But its argument fails because the substantial burden to which it refers  compulsion to grant the intangible endorsement contained in University Recognition  is not required by the Human Rights Act. By Georgetown's own admission, what the Human Rights Act actually does require  equal distribution of the tangible benefits  is considerably less burdensome. Our conclusion that the burden on religious liberty does not outweigh the District's compelling interest receives additional support from the facts that Georgetown voluntarily gives the student groups the fewer tangible benefits that come with Student Body Endorsement and that it has never objected to the student groups meeting on campus. Without interference from the Georgetown administration, the student groups are an active force in the university community. GPGU, for example, has held campus meetings almost weekly, hosting discussions, speakers, and educational and social events. Finally, the burden imposed upon Georgetown's religious exercise is further diminished by the parties' representations that GPGU has already been given a mailbox, one of the tangible benefits theoretically in dispute.