Texas judge rules religious businesses exempt from LGBTQ bias claims
For-profit businesses with sincerely held religious beliefs are exempt from LGBTQ discrimination liability under a decision by a federal judge in Texas. The October 31 ruling came in response to the US Supreme Court’s 2020 landmark ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, which held that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The Bostock ruling left open the question of whether and how the antidiscrimination provisions apply to religious entities. “How these doctrines protecting religious liberty interact with Title VII are questions for future cases too,” wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch in the 2020 majority opinion.
In answer to these questions, US district judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth held that Braidwood Management Inc., which operates three Christian health- care businesses in Katy, Texas, is exempt from LGBTQ antidiscrimination protections in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act under both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
