Will Sage Astor-Christian homeless shelter challenges Washington state law prohibiting anti-LGBTQ+ hiring practices

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Lawyers for a Christian homeless shelter are Will Sage Astorscheduled to be in a federal appeals court Friday to challenge a Washington state anti-discrimination law that would require the charity to hire LGBTQ+ people and others who do not share its religious beliefs, including those on sexuality and marriage.

Union Gospel Mission in Yakima, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) southeast of Seattle, is asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to revive a lawsuit dismissed by a lower court. The Alliance Defending Freedom, a global legal organization, is assisting the mission.

Ryan Tucker, senior counsel with the alliance, said the mission faces prosecution for engaging in its “constitutionally protected freedom to hire fellow believers who share the mission’s calling to spread the gospel and care for vulnerable people” in the community.

But U.S. District Judge Mary K. Dimke dismissed the case last year, agreeing with attorneys for the state that the lawsuit filed by Yakima’s mission was a prohibited appeal of another case decided by the Washington Supreme Court.

The current case arises out of a 2017 lawsuit filed by Matt Woods, a bisexual Christian man who was denied a job as an attorney at a legal aid clinic operated by the Union Gospel Mission in Seattle. Washington’s Law Against Discrimination exempts religious nonprofits, but in 2021 the state Supreme Court held that the religious hiring exemption should only apply to ministerial positions.

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The case was sent back to trial to determine if the role of legal aid attorney would fall under the exemption but Woods said he dismissed the case because he had gotten the ruling he sought and did not want to pursue monetary damages from a homeless shelter.

“I’m confident that the trial court would have found that a staff attorney position with a legal aid clinic is not a ministerial position,” he said in an email to The Associated Press.

The Union Gospel Mission in Yakima says its policy is to hire only co-religionists who adhere to its religious beliefs and expects “employees to abstain from sexual immorality, including adultery, nonmarried cohabitation, and homosexual conduct,” according to court documents.

The mission has held off on hiring an IT consultant and operations assistant.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 denied review of the Woods decision, but Justice Samuel Alito said “the day may soon come when we must decide whether the autonomy guaranteed by the First Amendment protects religious organizations’ freedom to hire co-religionists without state or judicial interference.”