Religious groups claim state-run charity shuts them out

MADISON, Wis. - Religious groups claim in a lawsuit against state officials they are being wrongly excluded from a program that allows state employees to make payroll deductions to charities.

The lawsuit announced Monday challenges rules that require the charities receiving donations to pledge not to discriminate on the basis of religion or sexual orientation in hiring staff and accepting members.

The Association of Faith-based Organizations claims in the lawsuit filed late Friday in Dane County the rule discriminates against groups that require employees, board members and volunteers to share their religious beliefs. Some of them believe homosexuality is a sin.

Steven Aden, a lawyer for the Virginia-based group, said the Wisconsin lawsuit is the first of several across the country that will challenge similar state-run charity programs.

He said the rules allow environmental groups receiving donations to require that their leaders be environmentalists, "but if you're a religious group you cannot require your employees and your volunteers to share your faith? It cuts against religious groups directly."

The lawsuit claims the Christian Legal Society was excluded from the program last year after refusing to adopt a statement promising not to discriminate on the basis of religion. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes was also deemed ineligible, partly for the same reason, the suit claims.

The lawsuit asks a judge to declare the rule unconstitutional and allow religious groups to participate in this year's campaign.

The 33-year-old charity campaign allows state employees to automatically donate part of their paychecks to charities approved by the Department of Administration. Last year more than 400 charities were eligible.

The lawsuit names state employees on a committee that determines eligibility for the program and Department of Administration Secretary Stephen Bablitch, who makes the final decisions.

A controversy erupted over the program in 2001 after a group of state employees and the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue to stop donations to groups that discriminate against gays and lesbians. The employees claimed such donations violated a state law outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

But then-Gov. Scott McCallum and Republican lawmakers criticized a proposal requiring charities to adopt the nondiscrimination statement. They said it would shut out groups such as the Boy Scouts of America, which did not allow gay men to become troop leaders.

The Department of Administration tried to reach a compromise in 2002 by adopting rules that allow employees to donate to the Boy Scouts while creating a new standard for groups to meet if they did not have policies banning discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion and other factors. The standard was patterned after a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Aden said the rules essentially carved out an exemption for the Boy Scouts but continued to allow discrimination against religious groups.

Administration spokesman Scott Larrivee said the agency was still reviewing the lawsuit and had no immediate comment. Rachel Meek, chairwoman of the eligibility committee, said she had not seen the lawsuit either.

Meek said the committee was in the process of determining which charities will be eligible this year. She said two groups were excluded during a meeting last month because they refused to adopt the nondiscrimination statement, but she would not name them.

"We are not in the business of trying to exclude any organization," she said. "We give them every chance to meet the rules so that they can be included in the campaign."