By First Liberty Institute communications ATLANTA - Today, First Liberty Institute and the law firm of Parks, Chesin & Walbert filed a lawsuit on behalf of Dr. Eric Walsh against the Georgia Department of Public Health, alleging that state officials engaged in religious discrimination against Walsh by firing him over the content of his sermons. Read more about this case and view lawsuit: firstliberty.org/walsh Eric Walsh is a public health expert with multiple advanced degrees who served on President Obama’s Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDs. In May 2014, Walsh accepted a position with Georgia’s Department of Public Health (DPH) to be the District Health Director for Northwest Georgia. A week later, Georgia state officials requested copies of sermons he had preached as a lay minister in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Topics covered in the sermons included following God, having compassion on the poor, health, marriage, sexuality, world religions, science, creationism, and more. In an email, the DPH Director of Human Resources assigned several of Dr. Walsh’s sermons to employees to review and critique. (View email) The day after Dr. Walsh provided sermons to the state, government officials informed Dr. Walsh that … [Read more...]
ADF: Govt shouldn’t strong-arm those who minister to the grieving
By Alliance Defending Freedom staff DETROIT – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Michigan funeral home asked a federal court Thursday to dismiss what remains of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit against the business’s sex-specific dress code, which requires employees to dress in a manner sensitive to grieving family members and friends. “The government should respect the freedom of Americans who are serving the grieving and vulnerable,” said ADF Legal Counsel Doug Wardlow. “The funeral home’s dress policy is legitimate, understandable, and legal. Numerous courts have recognized that companies may differentiate between men and women in their dress and grooming policies without violating Title VII, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in employment.” “The former employee who filed a complaint with the EEOC was at all times free to dress as desired outside of work,” added ADF Legal Counsel Caleb Dalton, “but was required, as all other employees are, to abide by the dress policy while on the job.” R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes has locations in Detroit, Garden City, and Livonia. Preferred Funeral Directors International awarded it the Parker Award in 2011 for … [Read more...]
PayPal, Apple lecture North Carolina, do business in countries far more hostile to gays
By Bradford Richardson, The Washington Times PayPal drew a line in the sand when North Carolina enacted a law prohibiting people from using the restrooms of the opposite sex, but critics say that line got washed away on the shores of Malaysia, a nation that consistently ranks among the least LGBT-friendly in the world. The company canceled its plan to build a global operations center in Charlotte after the passage of HB2, which CEO Daniel Schulman called discrimination against the transgendered. He noted that the move would cost North Carolina 400 well-paying jobs. The changing face of the American middle class But Malaysia’s Penal Code 187 — which punishes homosexual conduct with whippings and up to 20 years in prison — did not stop PayPal from opening in 2011 a global operations center there that it estimated would employ 500 workers by 2013. “We chose Malaysia because of its highly skilled, globally competitive and multilingual workforce, in addition to a world-class business environment and technology infrastructure,” John McCabe, senior vice president for global operations, said at the time. But PayPal is not an isolated corporation, nor is Malaysia an isolated country. Read more. … [Read more...]
