On July 8, 2020, in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru , the United States Supreme Court reaffirmed its stance on the application of ministerial exception to employment discrimination cases as established in earlier rulings. In doing so, the Court simultaneously raised an unanswered issue under Title VII: does the ministerial exception for religious employers allow those organizations to discriminate against employees or candidates based on their LGBTQ status? Background When discrimination in the workplace is based on gender it violates the law in America, and, as detailed in our prior Baker Alert , on June 15, 2020, the United States Supreme Court expanded the longstanding scope of that protection in a 6-3 historic decision that sexual orientation and gender identity are also protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Title VII prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, and creed, but sexual orientation and gender identity are not explicitly mentioned in Title VII’s statutory language like these other protected classifications. Proponents argued that such classes should be included because Title VII prohibits discrimination "because of sex," and the Court agreed. Specifically, the Court held that "an employer who fires an individual for […]
