The Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County , which (wrongly, in my view) expanded the coverage of a federal statute—Title VII—which prohibits sex discrimination in employment to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and transgender status, was the legal ricochet heard ‘round the world. But after the opinion was issued, multiple questions remained, including how to treat religious employers who were faced with claims of employment discrimination brought by LGBTQ employees. Now, a federal court has provided direction on just that question. In Bostock, the Supreme Court was tasked with clarifying the prohibition on “sex” discrimination in employment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . However, the court hinted at the need for future testing on the issue of employment discrimination in relation to religious employers. In writing for majority in Bostock, Justice Neil Gorsuch noted, This Court has also recognized that the First Amendment can bar the application of employment discrimination laws “to claims concerning the employment relationship between a religious institution and its ministers.” … And Congress has gone a step further yet in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 ( RFRA ) … That statute prohibits the federal […]
