Posted on 11/14/2002 10:48:57 AM PST by zingzang
By JOE GYAN JR. jgyan@theadvocate.com New Orleans bureau
NEW ORLEANS -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana and Gov. Mike Foster have settled an ACLU lawsuit that claimed the governor's federally funded sexual abstinence program was using tax dollars to promote religion.
The settlement comes 31/2 months after U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr. of New Orleans ruled that the Governor's Program on Abstinence had illegally used some funds "to convey religious messages and advance religion."
Under the settlement agreement approved Friday by Porteous and disclosed Wednesday by the ACLU, the Governor's Program on Abstinence has agreed to closely monitor the activities of all GPA-funded programs.
The agreement requires recipients of program funds to submit monthly reporting forms to the governor's office certifying that "no activity, event or material created or supported in whole or in part with GPA funds has included religious content," and that "no GPA funds have been used to advocate or promote, through prayer or otherwise, religion or religious messages."
Program personnel also will conduct quarterly in-person reviews of funded programs and examine lesson plans and curricula before the beginning of instruction, according to the settlement.
Any programs found to be promoting religion must correct the violation within a prescribed period of time. Under the terms of the agreement, the Governor's Program on Abstinence will neither renew nor consider new funding requests in the next contract period from programs or individuals that persist in preaching or teaching religion.
"This settlement recognizes that preaching should not be a taxpayer-funded activity," said Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana ACLU. Cook said the promotion of religion belongs "in the hands of parents and in private places of worship."
Catherine Weiss, director of the national ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said the court-approved settlement "should put other states on notice that using taxpayer money to promote religious beliefs violates the basic principle of religious freedom and will not be tolerated. "We are gratified that the governor's office has agreed to keep religion out of state-sponsored sex education programs," she added.
Foster, who had no comment Wednesday on the settlement, said previously that "there never has been any intention to fund religious activities."
Porteous acknowledged in his July 24 ruling that the Governor's Program on Abstinence was motivated by a "legitimate secular purpose" -- reducing teenage pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases through abstinence from sexual activity.
The judge, however, ordered the Governor's Program on Abstinence to stop giving money to groups or people who convey religious messages "or otherwise advance religion in any way in the course of any event supported in whole or in part by GPA funds ..."
The state had appealed Porteous' ruling in the case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In his order Friday, the judge said he will dismiss the case but "retain jurisdiction to enforce the terms and conditions of the settlement agreement of the parties." Money for the Governor's Program on Abstinence comes from the federal government under an "abstinence-only" education program approved as part of 1996 welfare legislation. The program, created by Foster in 1998, also is funded by state dollars.
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