Why it matters:

•  A US District judge granted summary judgment preventing Colorado from withholding universal preschool funding from a Christian preschool based on its religious beliefs relating to gender and sexual orientation that violate the state’s anti-discrimination requirement.

• This is decisive step to removing discriminatory barriers for sectarian entities to participate in government programs.

• Colorado’s UPK program permits exceptions at the discretion of the government, but the government refuses to allow exceptions accommodating schools’ sincere religious beliefs, and thus, is discriminatory and not neutral as a matter of law.

• The federal judge ruled that the state should have granted the school a religious exemption, enjoining the state from withholding funding based on its non-discrimination clause.