A Social Security Administration (SSA)
judge in Texas claims that the requirement to watch an LGBT diversity
video creates a “religiously hostile work environment.”
According to The
Washington Post, Judge Gary Suttles cites his First Amendment
rights and religious protections under the Civil Rights Act in a
lawsuit against his employer filed Thursday in federal court.
Suttles is asking a judge to bar his
supervisors from taking any disciplinary action against him at least
until a review by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in
mid-March is completed.
“The agency has wholly failed to work
in good faith to reasonably accommodate Judge Suttles' sincerely held
religious belief against watching” the video, the suit states.
Suttles' complaint also claims that the
SSA violated his rights “by discriminating against him on the basis
of his religion” and “creating a religiously hostile work
environment,” and that the agency “retaliated against him” when
he sought the religious accommodation.
The agency proposed Suttles read a
transcript of the video, but Suttles refused, saying in his complaint
that he objects to the video's message, not the medium.