Andrew Deeb, a transgender man, felt isolated at Spring Arbor University.

Deeb, now 25, fully transitioned to male in 2013. As a result, he said university officials told him he had to live off-campus for the 2013-14 academic year, his third year of college and second year at Spring Arbor. The move presented a financial hardship because Deeb's university scholarship couldn't be used for off-campus housing.

He also was not allowed in either the male or female dorms on campus beyond the common rooms or outside of visiting hours. A university administrator "very heavily implied" that he should not use the restrooms on campus, Deeb said.

"I was by myself most of the time. I couldn't go visit my friends in the dorms really," Deeb said. "They classified me as this third group that wasn't really allowed in a lot of spaces on campus."

Deeb filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education in the fall of 2013 that alleged Spring Arbor University was violating Title IX by discriminating against transgender people. He was not happy when SAU received an exemption from complying with Title IX in 2014.

Title IX is the federal law saying education institutions receiving federal funding cannot discriminate against people on the basis of sex, although the law allows for exceptions for religious organizations if compliance would violate their religious tenets.

"(There's an idea that) the legal right of an LGBTQ person somehow trumps religious right," said LoMaglio, with the CCCU. "Actually, the religious right for an institution that teaches or promulgates the faith ... that actually trumps this other thing."

Deeb decided to transfer from community college to SAU because he wanted to major in worship arts, and he wanted to be part of the Christian community he saw there.

Deeb then transferred to Concordia University in his hometown of Ann Arbor in the 2014-15 school year. He said he felt more welcome on that campus, and he graduated from Concordia in spring 2016 with a degree in pre-seminary studies and theological studies. He now attends seminary in San Francisco with plans to go into ministry.

"At least as far as my personal faith, before I transitioned, I needed assurance from God that God would be with me through the transition or I wasn't going to be able to do it," Deeb said. "I had that assurance, so I was able to hold onto that throughout all my experiences at Spring Arbor."