(WXMI) — A Michigan church is suing the state over protections added to the state’s civil rights statute this summer.
In July, the Michigan Supreme Court added protections for sexual orientation and gender identity to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, barring employers and businesses from discriminating against someone on that basis.
On Monday, St. Joseph Catholic Church, which serves about 900 families and also operates a catholic school, filed a suit against the attorney general, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, and the state’s Civil Rights Commission claiming the newly added protections leave them vulnerable to legal action simply for adhering to their religious beliefs.
“Michigan’s new understanding of 'sex' discrimination deems it unlawful for St. Joseph’s to follow the 2,000-year-old teachings of the Catholic Church, including its teaching that marriage is a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman, that sexual relations are limited to marriage, and that human beings are created as either male or female,” reads the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court. “Like catholic schools around the country, St. Joseph Catholic School asks all teachers to uphold catholic teachings in word and deed. The ELCRA does not contain a religious exemption that would cover St. Joseph’s hiring decisions and enforcement of its code of conduct as to both employees and students.”
The fear is that the school could face legal backlash for denying employment to LGBTQ individuals, even though the Catholic Church has always taken a stance against homosexuality and differing gender identities. They claim they could also lose access to public programs linked to St. John’s Public Schools and the Clinton County Regional Educational Services Agency (RESA).
Likewise, the church also fears they could violate the new protections in their capacity as a public accommodation – or a place often open to the public.
“Also at stake is St. Joseph’s ability to rent its facilities — like its gymnasium and soccer fields — and whether it can carry out its parish activities open to all, like attending Mass, without being held liable as a public accommodation,” reads the lawsuit.
“No school is isolated; you participate in sports leagues; you have special programs for students who have disabilities or special needs,” said Lori Windham, vice president and senior council at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing St. Joseph Catholic Church. “As a catholic school, they want to ensure that, even though they’re opening their doors to the public, that doesn’t mean they have to change their rules or change their policies. As a catholic school they have different rules for boys and for girls and different bathrooms for boys and for girls, locker rooms, things like that, and they want to make sure they’re not being required to do something, or act in a way, that’s contrary to their catholic faith.”
“That’s the fear, that they could be sued; they could have enforcement actions from the state government and that could be a really big impact on a small school and a small parish,” Windham continued.
On Wednesday, the office of Attorney General Dana Nessel told FOX 17 they had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
The Michigan Department of Civil Rights also told FOX 17 they had not yet been served with the lawsuit, adding, “the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and Department generally affirms the Supreme Court’s interpretation that the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act provides protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
The lawsuit was filed the same week the United States Supreme Court seemed poised to back a Colorado web designer who was accused of denying services to LGBTQ customers, despite a law in the state barring such discrimination. The court’s conservative majority was fully expected to hand the web designer a victory in a string of recent court wins for religious freedom groups.
Windham said the goal of the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church lawsuit wasn’t to overturn the Michigan Supreme Court’s July decision but instead to seek clarity on how religious groups should operate given the new protections.
“I think it is really important to that bigger conversation because it has this question about, What do you do when you have religious believers in your community and the law comes into conflict with them?” said Windham. “I think that this really is about how we can live together as a nation. We have people who have different beliefs about marriage and about gender and about sexuality, so this is about making sure that there is a space for a catholic church and a catholic school to be catholic. But that doesn’t take away the ability of others in the community to have rights and to have their own spaces as well.”
Windham said they’ll now wait for all parties to be served the lawsuit, which could take several weeks.
Read the full lawsuit here:
Lawsuit by St. Joseph Catholic Church by WXMI on Scribd
