LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Supreme Court has refused to hear a long-running dispute over public funding of a faith-based organization in Kentucky.

Lawyers for the former Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children had appealed to the high court after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2009 that the lawsuit could proceed. The suit was filed in 2000 by three taxpayers and Alicia Pedreira, a lesbian who claimed religious discrimination in her firing from the center.

The appeals panel dismissed Pedreira's claim but allowed the suit's challenge to public funding of faith-based institutions to proceed.

Alex Luchenitser, an attorney with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the plaintiffs were pleased with yesterday’s decision by the Supreme Court not to hear the case.

A lawyer for Kentucky Baptist Homes, now called Sunrise Children's Services, did not return a call seeking comment in time for this story.