A federal judge on Thursday ruled that
a Detroit funeral home did not violate the law when it fired a
transgender employee.
R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes,
which has three locations in the Detroit metropolitan area, fired a
funeral director and embalmer who worked at its Garden City location
two weeks after he disclosed to his employer of six years that he
would be transitioning to a woman.
Owner Thomas F. Rost claimed that he
had a right to fire Amiee Stephens under the federal Religious
Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
U.S. District Judge Sean Cox agreed,
saying that application of federal discrimination law would impede
Rost's right to practice his faith.
“The court finds that the funeral
home has met its initial burden of showing that enforcement of Title
VII, and the body of sex-stereotyping case law that has developed
under it, would impose a substantial burden on its ability to conduct
business in accordance with its sincerely held religious beliefs,”
Cox wrote.
Attorney Douglas G. Wardlow of the
Christian conservative Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is
representing Rost and his company in the case.
“This case wasn't about gender
identity,” Wardlow is quoted as saying by The
Detroit News. “It was about the owner's religious belief
that sex is a immutable and God-given gift.”
Sarah Warbelow, legal director at the
Human Rights Campaign (HRC), called the ruling “reckless.”
“This
is a reckless ruling against a woman who was fired simply because she
is transgender,” Warbelow said in a statement. “Judge Cox’s
deeply disappointing decision has the possibility of setting an
incredibly dangerous precedent that purported religious beliefs can
be used as an excuse to violate non-discrimination laws. It has the
potential of opening a Pandora's box of discrimination against a wide
range of vulnerable communities. We are incredibly concerned about
the implications.”