2017]
RIGHTS INFLATION
223
democratic society, such organizations are entitled to protection of their beliefs and practices. 168 If religious institutions, such as TWU, refuse to adopt the secularist understanding of marriage and sexual equality, then it is not surprising that similar opinions akin to those of Professor Tushnet will gain currency. These are opinions that lean to state coercion for compliance. 169 Ultimately, that is where the inflationary demands of equality rights lead us. This is where the anti-TWU side now stands. They have refused to accept the current state of the law that has allowed TWU to exist and carry out its function as a religious university granting accredited degrees. As discussed below, this is a right that was recognized, at considerable cost, with respect to TWU’s education faculty back in 2001. The anti-TWU forces are now demanding that the law change. Only the Ontario courts have agreed with the anti-TWU position. 170 The courts in British Columbia and Nova Scotia have all favored TWU. 171 The SCC has just announced its decision to hear the appeal, 172 and it is there, at the highest court, where we will find out which will prevail: state enforcement of secular sexual norms, or state accommodation of religious norms in the private sphere. Sections III.A.–III.C. of this Article outline the TWU law school case, with a primary focus on its experience in British Columbia. This case is one that spans the entire country with litigation: in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia. This Article focuses on British Columbia for the following reasons: First, it is the home province of TWU; 173 second, the arguments are mirrored, with slight administrative differences, in all three jurisdictions; and third, the Article is limited to one case in the interest of brevity. Nevertheless, the Courts in Ontario took a very different stand toward TWU than the courts in Nova Scotia 168
“The individual and collective aspects of freedom of religion are indissolubly intertwined. The freedom of religion of individuals cannot flourish without freedom of religion for the organizations through which those individuals express their religious practices and through which they transmit their faith.” Loyola High School v. Quebec (Att’y Gen.), [2015] 1 S.C.R. 613, para. 94 (Can.). 169 Horwitz, supra note 149. 170 Steve Weatherbe, Big Win for Trinity Western: BC Judge Says Ban on Christian Law School Infringes Religious Freedom, LIFESITE NEWS (Dec. 10, 2015), https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/big-win-for-trinity-western-bc-judge-says-ban-onchristian-law-school-infri. 171 Id. 172 Law Soc’y of B.C. v. Trinity W. Univ., No. 37318 (S.C.C. appeal docketed Feb. 23, 2017). 173 TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY, PROPOSAL FOR A SCHOOL OF LAW AT TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY 5 (2012) [hereinafter TWU PROPOSAL], https://www.twu.ca/sites/ default/files/assets/proposal-for-a-school-of-law-at-twu.pdf.