Pines Church Accuses Hermon Schools of Bias Over Sexuality, Contraception Views

A federal judge will not rule for at least two months on whether the Hermon School Department discriminated against Pines Church when it turned down the church's request for a year-long lease, the Bangor Daily News reported.

The judge heard two days of witnesses in federal court in Bangor on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25. The church, now based in Bangor, filed suit in May 2023. It alleges the School Committee refused to lease it the high school auditorium for a full year of Sunday worship because of the church's conservative views on sexual identity and contraception.

After rejecting the year-long lease in December 2022, the committee offered a month-to-month arrangement, which the church declined. The congregation was meeting in a movie theater in Orono at the time.

The church argues the decision violated the First and 14th amendments as well as the accommodation provisions of the Maine Human Rights Act.

There were no closing arguments; a written transcript of the proceedings must be prepared first, which could take about two weeks. The church then has two weeks to file a brief, the school department has two weeks to respond, and the church gets one more week for a reply. Only after that roughly seven-week schedule will the judge weigh the filings and hand down a written ruling.

This story was first reported by Bangor Daily News.