Trinity Western University takes its use of ‘anti-gay’ pledge back to court

Trinity Western University's quest to set up its own law school remains mired in legal troubles over the B.C. Christian institution's so-called community covenant, which has been condemned as anti-gay.

Its use of the covenant could end up before the Supreme Court of Canada for the second time in 13 years.

The university, located in the Vancouver suburb of Langley, says it's going to court to fight law societies in Nova Scotia and Ontario that say they won't recognize law degrees from TWU because the covenant is seen as discriminatory.

The pledge, which all TWU students must sign as a prerequisite to admission, requires them to abstain from sex outside marriage.

It also defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, and in a footnote references biblical condemnation of homosexuality. Critics say it means the university won't recognize perfectly legal same-sex marriages, effectively barring gays from attending.

In a news release on its web site, TWU said it will challenge the Nova Scotia and Ontario decisions in court on the grounds of freedom of religion and conscience.

It's also applying to the B.C. Supreme Court to be added to a suit filed against the B.C. government by prominent Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby over the province's decision to accredit the TWU law school.

[ Related: Trinity Western law school: B.C. lawyers to vote in June ]

The Upper Canada Law Society and Nova Scotia Barristers' Society voted last month not to accredit graduates of the law school, still slated to open in September 2016.

The B.C. Law Society, whose executive had already voted to accredit the school, now is reconsidering under pressure from members. A vote has been scheduled for next month.

Law societies in Alberta, Saskatchewan, P.E.I., Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Nunavut, have accredited potential TWU law graduates to article and practise in their jurisdictions.

The Federation of Canadian Law Societies gave the school preliminary approval last December, deciding that the issues raised about the covenant agreement were outside the mandate of the approval committee and should be examined separately.

Observers see the issue as a conflict between the Charter of Rights' equality provisions and its guarantee of religious freedom.

If the issue does go to the Supreme Court, the university expects to win. In a 2001 ruling, the high court found 8-1 in favour of TWU after the B.C. College of Teachers tried to withhold accreditation for the university's new teachers' college over its use of the covenant.

“The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court in the country, comprised of the best legal minds, and their decisions should be respected. In law, their decisions must be respected," university president Bob Kuhn said in the news release.

[ Related: B.C. law school that bars gay sex may face legal challenge ]

Kuhn has received financial support from private donors for the legal fight, the Globe and Mail reported. He said the law societies' decisions “send the chilling message that you cannot hold religious values and also participate fully in public society.”

“These issues are critically important to the resolution of this conflict between equality rights and the fundamental freedom of religion and conscience,” Kuhn told the Globe. “I’m anxious to make sure that Trinity isn’t marginalized.”

The president of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society, René Gallant, said he was expecting the university's suit, but "you can’t let the threat of litigation to prevent you from doing the right thing.”

Gallant rejected the university's view that withholding accreditation was an attack on freedom of religion and conscience

"Forcing people to sign a contract that says they will follow those beliefs and they can be expelled from the law school if they don't — including reporting on others — that takes it too far," he told CBC News.

"That's not religious freedom that is protected, that is discrimination."