In January, Americans United was joined by nine other religious and civil rights organizations in urging the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm that religious freedom does not give employers a blanket license to discriminate against their workers. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the lawsuit Doe v. Catholic Relief Services, Americans United and allies explained that the First Amendment doesn’t exempt religious employers from non-discrimination laws and that it doesn’t allow Catholic Relief Services to discriminate against an LGBTQ+ employee by compensating him less than other workers.
AU President and CEO Rachel Laser stated, “Religious freedom is not a license to discriminate or harm LGBTQ+ workers. Employers don’t have a right based on their religious beliefs to dock the compensation of an employee who happens to be LGBTQ+ — that’s not how religious freedom works.
“Religious extremists continue their crusade of urging courts to grant them immunity from civil rights and anti-discrimination laws,” Laser added. “The lower court’s decision in this case is consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court, which has said religious freedom ‘does not mean that religious institutions enjoy a general immunity from secular laws.’ We urge the court to protect religious freedom for all and reject the employer’s demand for a religious exemption from Maryland’s non-discrimination laws.”
The organizations that joined Americans United on the brief included the American Civil Liberties Union; Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice; Central Atlantic Conference United Church of Christ; DignityUSA; Global Justice Institute; Metropolitan Community Churches; Hindu American Foundation; Methodist Federation for Social Action; Sadhana: Coalition for Progressive Hindus; and Society for Humanistic Judaism.
The brief was authored for AU by Litigation Counsel Jenny Samuels and Associate Vice President and Associate Legal Director Alex J. Luchenitser.