By Emma Maple | FāVS News Reporter
A Yakima-based Christian organization scored a tentative win last week in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that will allow it to continue its practice of not hiring people who disagree with the organization’s conservative stance on marriage and sexuality.
The case arose from a recent reinterpretation of a decades-old Washington state employment law that shielded several protected classes, including sexual orientation, from discrimination.
In 2021, the state Supreme Court ruled that the law would apply, for the first time, to nonprofit religious organizations when they hired non-ministerial employees.
Worried about how the reinterpretation might affect its hiring practices, Yakima Union Gospel Mission sued the state. It was represented by conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom.
The case was initially heard in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, which granted a preliminary injunction in favor of Yakima Union Gospel Mission, allowing it to continue its hiring practices until the case is fully decided.
Yakima Union Gospel Mission requires its employees to “agree to live out its Christian beliefs and practices” including not engaging in homosexual acts, according to the 9th Circuit’s decision. The homeless services organization provides assistance to everyone, regardless of religious beliefs, according to Alliance Defending Freedom.
The state appealed the lower court’s decisions, and the 9th Circuit affirmed the preliminary injunction on religious freedom grounds.
The case must still go before a separate panel of 9th Circuit judges for a final judgment.
The tentative ruling said that Yakima Union Gospel Mission’s decision to only hire people who agree with the organization’s stance on faith-related issues allows it to build a unified front of employees who support each other internally and present a consistent message to the public, Judge Patrick J. Bumatay, a Donald Trump appointee, wrote in the 9th Circuit’s opinion.
“At the very least, its employment policy prevents Union Gospel’s own employees from openly undermining its religious message,” Bumatay wrote, noting the First Amendment protection of that policy applied to organizations with “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
“If a religious organization were forced to hire those who flout and disregard its religious beliefs, it may forgo engagement with the public in the first place,” Bumatay added.
Yakima Union Gospel Mission and the state did not respond to requests for comment.
The 9th Circuit’s ruling is limited to decisions made by religious organizations and is not broadly applicable to other types of businesses run by religious institutions, such as businesses or hospitals, according to the opinion.
The religious freedom win comes just months after the 9th Circuit ruled in partial favor of the Oregon Department of Education, which withheld $410,000 in grants from a Christian organization because it would only hire employees who share its religious beliefs.
That case, which was also litigated by Alliance Defending Freedom, is now being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Alliance Defending Freedom is a national legal powerhouse, based in Arizona, that litigates cases involving religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family and parental rights.
Its website claims it has won nearly 80% of its cases, including 16 Supreme Court victories since 2011.
The group has recently made national headlines for culture war cases on gay and transgender rights, bans on abortion and the use of public funding for religious charter schools.
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This is such an important topic to many religious groups. Thanks for reporting on it.