Posted on 06/21/2023 1:34:51 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
A federal agency cannot force a Texas-based conservative Christian business to comply with policies barring discrimination against LGBTQ+ employees or job applicants, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The decision by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity cannot deny Braidwood Management an exemption from anti-discrimination policies designed to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act. Braidwood is entitled to the exemption under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, the ruling said.
“Being forced to employ someone to represent the company who behaves in a manner directly violative of the company’s convictions is a substantial burden and inhibits the practice of Braidwood’s beliefs,” Judge Jerry Smith wrote for the panel of three 5th Circuit judges.
Braidwood wants to make sure it is not required to hire or retain any employee who “engages homosexual or transgender conduct,” according to the district court judge who first ruled in the case in 2021. And the company objects to EEOC policies forbidding gender-specific dress codes or requirements that employees use “bathrooms that conform to biological sex.”
Among EEOC arguments against the suit was the lack of any indication that any enforcement action had been taken or planned against Braidwood.
Gene Hamilton, an attorney for the conservative America First Legal organization and counsel for Braidwood, noted that in a statement saying AFL was “thrilled” with the 5th Circuit ruling.
“The Biden administration wrongly tried to keep our clients out of court, arguing that they had to wait for the EEOC to subject them to costly administrative litigation and an intrusive process before their claims against the EEOC’s radical transgender guidance could be heard,” Hamilton said.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Now, how do we apply that to the rest of the country and to all businesses. Maybe even just start with religious schools.
I’m just curious...when exactly did CONGRESS amend the law to specifically include LGBTQ+FJB as a protected class?
Not that there should be ANY ‘protected classes’ in the law...
If you have an employee meeting the public that employee is an extension of your company. The public sees that employee and forms an opinion about your company based on what they see. You wouldn’t want to hire someone who has a “N” word tattooed across their forehead. You also wouldn’t want to hire someone who is obviously a man dressed as a woman, unless your business or products were exclusively for that type of clientele. If you’re selling burgers or auto parts or farming equipment, you’d rather have someone who isn’t projecting some mental illness. If you have hired someone like that at the front desk you can expect to get a quieter version of the Bud Light treatment. There won’t be any protest, but your business will dry up.
I ran into the former manager of my favorite auto parts store at his new job in Walmart. I mentioned the “person” who took his place who is man pretending to be a woman. He rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah, “she” can be abrasive as Hell.” Then, realizing he was being politically incorrect he quickly added, “But she does know her stuff.” I found the new manager’s constant jealous-seeming criticism of the beautiful actual woman coworker annoying, and I now shop at another store, which, incidentally, is mostly crewed by women.
The point is if the state forces you to hire someone who is obviously wearing their sexual politics on their sleeve, they are forcing you out of business.
Too bad Mike Pence didn’t have the same fortitude when Apple’s Tim Cook threatened Indiana over that state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Fifth Circuit would most likely have stood up for it too.
Exactly. The creation of “protected classes” deliberately destroys equal protection of the laws.
BTW, this is all the courts’ misinterpretation of the laws, which looks like it goes back to 1989’s Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, and maybe even further back.
Pence’s reputation as a deep state coward is well deserved.
1. The “religious schools” you reference aren’t religious institutions if they accept taxpayer funds.
2. I’m sure this company was able to get around any EEOC regulations because they are privately held with a closed corporate ownership or partner structure, and have their religious identity written into the company’s bylaws and founding documents.
Religious schools prevail if sued already. So do churches. And Christian ministries.
Good to see a Christian business’ right to religious standards is being acknowledged.
He’s just a generic white male Sleezeball Republican.
Which most of the Rinos are.
You forget that Mike Pence is a weakling, compromised, and carrying a dim IQ throughout his miserable life.
Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.Pence is clearly for the other side. Note how strenuously he fights against conservatives when put to it; he doesn’t even bother to maintain the façade.
— Goal #15 of the 45 communist goals for the USA
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