Former evangelical insider Deborah Jian Lee explains how over 200 federally funded religious schools – with nearly one million students – exploit the religious exemption from Title IX, the federal policy that protects students from discrimination. 

These schools violated the civil rights of Journey Mueller, who was forced out of her Christian college in Colorado, and countless LGBTQ+ students, all with the blessing of taxpayer dollars.

“Persecution in the Name the Lord,” which Jian Lee wrote for Esquire and Economic Hardship Reporting Project, won the EGF Accelerator’s Eddie Prize at this year’s National Awards for Education Reporting ceremony. Jian Lee, a senior editor with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, shares story ideas at the intersection of religion and higher education with EWA Public Editor Emily Richmond.