TRUE STORIES

This page features news articles that illustrate the dangers of anti-discrimination laws taken too far. You can follow by email to receive emails when new stories are posted.

The articles are organized by category in the left hand column.

For more resource reading on understanding homosexuality, gay marriage and the arguments for marriage between one man and one woman, click HERE.

Christian bakers face government wrath for refusing to make cake for gay wedding

 
Aaron and Melissa Klein refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, and now they must pay for their crime.
An Oregon administrative law judge ruled on Jan. 29 that the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa did, in fact, discriminate in 2013 when they declined to provide a wedding cake for a lesbian couple because it would have violated their Christian beliefs against same-sex marriage.
The judge’s ruling paves the way for a March 10 hearing at which the Christian business owners could be ordered to pay $150,000 in fines and damages.
“You cannot discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation,” Paul Thompson, the attorney representing the lesbian couple, told The Oregonian. “The entire time, I felt the law was very much on our side because the law is black and white.”
You can read the judge’s 52-page order here.
Last year, investigators concluded the bakers had violated the couple’s rights to equal treatment in places that serve the public. State law bans discrimination against LGBT people in places that serve the public — and that includes bakeries.
I spoke with Aaron Klein by telephone Monday night. He told me the judge’s ruling is a miscarriage of justice and an erosion of religious liberty.
“They’re trying to push us into the closet for being Christians,” he said.
Klein said it’s time for Americans to take a stand for religious liberty.
“The Founding Fathers said we have the inalienable rights given by God — not man,” he said. “Let’s exercise those rights.”
The Kleins’ troubles started in January 2013 when they turned away that lesbian couple. The bakers were relentlessly pummeled in the media. LGBT activists launched protests and boycotts. They tell me their small children even received death threats — simply because they chose to follow the teachings of their faith.
At some point the activists threatened to launch boycotts against any wedding vendor that did business with the Kleins. That turned out to be the death blow to their retail shop. Today, Melissa bakes cakes out of the family’s home.
The question now is how much — if anything — the Kleins will be forced to pay. Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian will decide, and history proves he’s no friend of the Christian bakers.
In 2013, Avakian told The Oregonian that it is the government’s desire was to rehabilitate businesses like the one owned by the Kleins.

Read the story here: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/02/03/christian-bakers-face-government-wrath-for-refusing-to-make-cake-for-gay/

Texas Macy’s Employee Fired for Allegedly Violating Store’s LGBT Policy

A Texas woman claims she was fired from her job at Macy’s for telling a transgender customer that she could not change in the women’s dressing room, according to ABC News’ San Antonio affiliate KSAT.
The woman, Natalie Johnson, has filed a complaint with the Federal Employment Commission, saying that her religious beliefs prevent her from recognizing transgender people, according to KSAT.
Johnson, 27, was employed at the River Center Macy’s in San Antonio until last week. She said a teenager caught her attention because the teen was shopping for women’s clothing, but Johnson was convinced the shopper was male.
When Johnson spotted the teenager in the women’s dressing area, Johnson told her she could not change there.
“I had to just be straightforward and  tell him, ‘You’re a man,’ and of course that … really got him steamed,” Johnson told KSAT.
The teenager’s friends argued with Johnson, reportedly telling her that Macy’s allows transgender people to change in the dressing room of the gender they identify with.
“I made my choice the other day,” Johnson said. “I refuse to comply with this policy.”

Other Examples of Attacks on Religious Conscience and Free Exercise

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/other-examples-of-attacks-on-religious-conscience-and-free-exercise
Other examples of attacks on religious conscience and free exercise:

Employment
Example 1: 
A Baptist-affiliated organization that places at-risk children in adoption or foster care terminated an employee because her admitted homosexual lifestyle was contrary to the organization’s core values. Accusing the organization of sexual orientation discrimination, she brought a federal lawsuit that the organization is still defending against more than a decade later. Pedreira v. Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children, Inc., 579 F.3d 722 (6th Cir. 2009), cert. denied, 131 S. Ct. 2091.
Comment: Businesses that publicly operate according to religious beliefs should have the freedom to hire based on religious criteria they deem necessary to ensure that the working environment is supportive of those beliefs. This case illustrates that even overtly religious organizations can be sued for sexual orientation discrimination and that the resulting litigation can consume an organization’s resources for many years.
(Utah law already exempts small businesses with fewer than 15 employees from nondiscrimination laws. That threshold exemption should be maintained.)
Example 2: 
A New York City restaurant was ordered to pay $1.6 million to a lesbian chef and manager for allegedly discriminating based on sexual orientation and religion because the restaurant held weekly prayer meetings and the owner expressed the view that homosexual conduct is sinful. Salemi v. Gloria’s Tribeca, Inc., 115 A.D.3d 569, 982 N.Y.S.2d 458 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2014).
Comment: The reported decision doesn’t say whether employees were told that the restaurant’s owner held out the business as operating according to traditional Christian beliefs. But it’s probably the most striking illustration of what effect a sexual orientation law can have on such a business.
Example 3: 
A Minnesota health club, owned by Evangelical Christians and operated in light of biblical principles, was ordered by the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1985 to stop hiring only employees who shared their religious beliefs in order to comply with state nondiscrimination laws. Blanding v. Sports & Health Club, Inc., 373 N.W.2d 784 (Minn. Ct. App. 1985), aff’d, 389 N.W.2d 205 (Minn. 1986).
Comment: This is a frequently cited case where a business that held itself out as operating on religious lines lost to nondiscrimination rules.
  • Issue: Employers, such as Boy Scouts of America, that exist to express or inculcate a religious or values-based message should be free to make hiring decisions based on their religious beliefs or values. 
  • Issue: All employers should be free to establish reasonable employment regulations that are consistent with their values, including those relating to dress, grooming and use of private facilities.
  • Issue: All employees should be free to express their religious commitments in the workplace in reasonable, nondisruptive ways and on equal terms with similar expressions by other employees. Employees should not be terminated or disciplined for expressing their religious convictions about marriage, family and sexuality outside the workplace, any more than employees should be fired for expressing in nondisruptive ways alternative views on those topics outside the workplace.

Housing
Example 1:
A private Jewish university in New York City was sued by a lesbian couple for its policy of reserving its married student housing for male-female couples. The state’s highest court ruled that the university’s policy could be challenged as violating the city’s ordinance barring housing discrimination based on sexual orientation. Levin v. Yeshiva Univ., 96 N.Y.2d 484 (2001).
Comment: Churches and other religiously affiliated organizations that own noncommercial housing units should have the freedom to give preferences to those of their own faith. Religious schools should have the freedom to establish values-based regulations for student housing, including regulations separating male and female housing and protecting values of privacy, modesty and sexual morality.
Example 2:
In 1996 the California Supreme Court ruled that a devout Presbyterian widow with traditional Christian morals violated state law when she desired to rent one of her properties only to couples who are married. The court explained that the widow could avoid compromising her religious beliefs by getting out of the rental business altogether. Smith v. Fair Employment & Housing Com., 913 P.2d 909 (Cal. 1996).
Comment: Small landlords and landlords renting units closely associated with their family living arrangements should have the freedom to determine who will occupy such units. Mrs. Smith’s plight is perhaps the best-known case pitting the religious liberty of small landlords against the insensitivity of sweeping nondiscrimination laws. Note that it involves an unmarried heterosexual couple.  

Court Throws out Firefighters' Gay Pride Lawsuits

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Dec 29, 2014, 3:08 PM ET
By MICHELLE R. SMITH Associated Press
The Rhode Island Supreme Court has thrown out lawsuits brought by two Providence firefighters who said their constitutional rights were violated when they were ordered to drive a truck in a gay pride parade despite their religious objections.
The firefighters, Theodore Fabrizio and Stephen Deninno, argued that they are Roman Catholics and therefore do not support or condone homosexuality.
Justice William Robinson, writing for all five members of the high court this month, said the men appeared in the 2001 parade as public servants who were "relatively anonymous." He called it a legitimate work assignment.

Shirt Company Won't Fold on Values


Tony Perkins - Washington Update
FAMILY RESEARCH COUNSEL
December 15, 2014 - Monday

T-shirt maker Blaine Adamson doesn’t exactly wear his heart on his sleeve, but he’s not about to ignore it either. When the Kentucky businessman was approached about printing rainbow shirts for Lexington’s gay pride festival two years ago, he had to turn the job down. As a Christian, he felt that using his shop to promote a message that contradicted his faith was a non-starter.
Unfortunately, Adamson has paid for his principles -- dearly. In October, the city’s “special rights” ordinance -- the same kind of measure that’s caused a firestorm in Houston, San Antonio, Fayetteville, and Springfield -- came back to bite Hands On, which was found guilty of “discrimination” and sentenced to a year of “sensitivity training.” As far as Lexington’s Human Rights Commissioner was concerned, it’s time for Christians in the marketplace “to leave their religion at home.”
But that won’t happen without a fight. Late last week, Blaine announced that he’s appealing the decision. “No one should be forced by the government to endorse or promote ideas with which they disagree,” his attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) argued. “Laws that do that are fundamentally unjust. We are appealing the commission’s decision because the First Amendment protects the freedom of every American to decline to speak on any issue without fear of punishment.”

Religious Freedom: Protecting how we Practice our Faith

Three more examples of reverse discrimination that is growing every day:

  Frank Turek was hired by Cisco Systems as a leadership consultant, helping the company’s employees become better leaders and team players. He was so successful that his contract was renewed. His seminars were highly rated by those in attendance. That is, until one of his seminar attendees Googled Turek’s name and learned he had written a book supporting one man, one woman marriage. The student complained that Turek didn’t fit with Cisco’s “tolerance” polices. Shortly thereafter, the company fired Turek in 2010.

 Craig James was a former NFL running back and U.S. Senate candidate from Texas prior to being hired in 2013 by Fox Sports Southwest as a college football broadcaster. Just days later, James was fired when Fox learned that James, while campaigning for U.S. Senate, had advocated for one man, one woman marriage.

 Natalie Johnson worked for Macy’s in 2011, when she asked a man to leave the women’s dressing room area. The obviously male customer argued he was a woman; however, Johnson was adamant. Johnson was fired for not complying with Macy’s policy regarding transgender-identified individuals.

 http://media.focusonthefamily.com/fotf/pdf/channels/social-issues/tv-religiousfreedom-final2.pdf 

Catholic University Training: Report Criticism of Gay Marriage as Harassment

By 
An anti-harassment training session at a Catholic university in Wisconsin encouraged employees to report anyone they hear criticizing gay marriage to the school’s human-resources department.

 Read this story at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/394354/catholic-university-training-report-criticism-gay-marriage-harassment-katherine-timpf
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