FILE: Students at Sacred Heart Academy in Grand Rapids on Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. (Cory Morse | MLive.com) Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act is not violating the rights of a Catholic church and school in the state, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. St. Joseph Catholic Church in St. Johns and Sacred Heart Academy in Grand Rapids filed separate lawsuits in December, arguing new sex and gender protections in the law prevent the institutions from hiring and teaching according to their faith. But Judge Jane Beckering in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids ruled that the Michigan Supreme Court’s upholding in July 2022 of those protections stands. This means, for example, a person can’t be denied a job based on those above factors. ELCRA “does not fail to recognize religious freedoms,” Beckering wrote in her dismissal of St. Joseph’s suit. She said the same in dismissing Sacred Heart’s suit, adding in both rulings that neither institution presented a credible imminent threat in their suits by enforcement of ELCRA. Beckering also on Tuesday denied reconsideration of her March dismissal of a similar lawsuit filed by Christian Healthcare Centers, a religious alternative to medical treatment and insurance with locations in Grand Rapids […]
