The bishops and the Equality Act: a train wreck

The bishops and the Equality Act: a train wreck 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect individual rights to public accommodations based on sex, however the Civil Rights Act of 1968 does extend protection based on sex to fair housing. Given the inclusion of LGBT individuals in the Title VII definition of sex last summer, it is not much of a stretch to enforce it in Fair Housing as well. The Equality Act is not necessary for that purpose, although it would be for public accommodations. If the Equal Rights Amendment ratification period is extended, the Equality Act would not be necessary and a religious exemption would be hard to justify. 

There is already text on religious exemptions in Title VII. The only way to get further exemptions is to play nice. Of course, if the Church was willing to play nice, there would be less reason to pass this legislation. The real train wreck will be when Hosanna-Tabor meets Bostock and Perry. The principle to be tested is how far does the ministry exemption go. 

Lambda Legal Defense Fund needs to raise the issue  whether the right of religious freedom is code for a right to religious power. This question has not been asked. It should be. The other question to be asked is whether the Church terminates employees who marry civilly who are heterosexual, even though these marriages are also considered irregular. If there is a different standard, bigotry must be presumed and Hosanna-Tabor cannot be applied.

In the end, the question will be moot. The next generation of bishops will simply not fire employees because they exercise their rights to marriage equality. Blessing such marriages will likely be back on the table by then. For now, the faithful must shame the hierarchy when it objects to some civil marriages and not others. It may not do so in our names.