‘Radical organizations…are trying to chip away at the right of religious schools’
A former male employee who now claims he is a woman is suing Liberty University for firing him.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed a lawsuit Monday on behalf of a former Liberty University employee named Jonathan Zinski, who now goes by the first name “Ellenor.”
The Protestant university in Lynchburg, Virginia fired Zinski last summer from his information technology role after he changed his name and began taking transgender drugs, according to the lawsuit.
However, Liberty’s doctrinal statement deems the “denial of birth sex by self-identification with a different gender” a “sinful act prohibited by God.” All employees must sign and agree to this statement.
The ACLU argues that Zinski (pictured) was “fired in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 after she disclosed her identity as a trans woman,” according to The Washington Stand. “The ACLU lawsuit appears to rely on an interpretation of Title VII that is highly controversial,” The Washington Stand said. “In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII’s prohibition of employment discrimination based on ‘sex’ also includes ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity.”
But The Stand said there have been “recent court cases” recognizing religious liberty rights for employers.
Zinski is suing the school for $300,000 and requesting to be reinstated to his position.
The university notes on its careers page, however, that “Federal law creates an exception to the ‘religion’ component of the employment discrimination laws for religious organizations (including educational institutions), and permits them to give employment preference to members of their own religion.”
“Liberty University is in that category,” according to the school.
In addition, legal experts assert that the Constitution and court precedent safeguard the rights of religious institutions like Liberty to employ only those who adhere to a religious moral code.
“[F]ortunately, the law gives a couple of very strong lines of defense for religious organizations,” senior counsel at First Liberty Institute Senior Counsel Stephanie Taub told Tony Perkins recently, commenting on the case.
Taub said:
The first one is in the Constitution. And fortunately, we’ve had a couple of very good decisions from the United States Supreme Court that protect religious schools and their right to hire so-called ministers, or people that are responsible for teaching the faith to the next generation as a part of their religious school. And there’s also protections in federal employment discrimination law itself, which gives protections for religious employers to make employment decisions based on religion.
“But what we see here is we see radical organizations like the ACLU that are trying to chip away at the right of religious schools and especially Christian schools and their right to actually remain a community of faith that are dedicated to their doctrinal principles.”
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IMAGE: ABC 13 News
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