Social fraternities and sororities may soon have to become co-ed if they want to continue to enjoy state subsidies on campuses.

In a landmark decision, a three-judge panel in New York ruled two weeks ago that the City University of New York may require on-campus social groups to be free of gender bias.

An all-male social fraternity had argued that such a law interferes with its right to engage in intimate association. For example, it told a lower court that it doesn’t want to include women because doing so interferes with its goal of promoting “brotherly love.”

It argued that allowing women could create romantic conflicts between the members. The fraternity suggested that male and female members could become romantically involved and that could cause friction, especially if two brothers sought the same female.

But a federal district judge who initially heard the case discounted that reason. He pointed out that, during a deposition, one fraternity officer admitted that some members of the fraternity were gay and had been involved with each other. So the court concluded that romantic conflicts can occur regardless of the presence of the opposite gender.

In short, the court found that the state’s interest in ending gender bias overrode the fraternity’s intimate association interest.

Federal law exempts social fraternities and sororities from abiding by gender bias laws. The California State University system, home to SDSU and CSU San Marcos specifically exempts social Greek groups. But these exemptions are from 1972, and recent cases have uniformly held that the state is free to require groups receiving tax support to be “bias free.”

In California, fraternities and sororities cannot engage in bias based upon sexual orientation.

In light of the federal case, the Legislature, the UC Regents, and the CSU should end the exemption for gender bias.

This does not mean that Greek groups will see an influx of members of the opposite sex. But it will open the door for groups to accept members of either gender without having to lose their national charters.

The federal ruling may have an impact also in San Diego relative to the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts occupying Balboa Park.

U.S. District Judge James V. Selna, in a Sept. 25 ruling, held that Garden Grove school officials did not violate the rights of lesbian high school student Charlene Nguon, when they disciplined her for kissing and groping her girlfriend on campus or when they disclosed her sexual orientation to her mother.

In his ruling, Selna wrote that heterosexual couples also were disciplined for inappropriate public displays of affection, and that Nguon was not singled out. He did find that Santiago High School Principal Ben Wolf outed Nguon to her mother. The judge noted that doing this would normally be illegal. But the judge ruled it was acceptable here because Wolf was explaining why Nguon was being punished.”

Nguon’s attorneys plan to appeal because the principal did not have to disclose Nguon’s sexual orientation to her mother.

Earlier the judge had ruled that a student’s sexual orientation is a confidential matter. California law prohibits school officials from disclosing confidential medical information to parents. For example, principals cannot disclose that a minor left campus for an abortion. The reason for the rule is to protect minors’ privacy and also to protect them from potentially abusive parents, who might react violently to the news.

The law acts as a complete prohibition on disclosing the abortion. Even if the girl had been injured en route to the abortion, the principal cannot disclose where she was heading.

The same logic applies to disclosing a student’s homosexual or bisexual orientation. The principal could have simply disclosed that he disciplined Nguon for “inappropriate public behavior.”

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which crafted an insightful ruling two years ago discussing the harassment of GLBT students in our nation’s schools, will probably reverse Judge Selna’s

ruling. Robert DeKoven is a professor at California Western School of Law.