Federal Judge Rules That Hobby Lobby Decision Means Transgender Employees Can Be Fired Because Jesus

Politico reports:

A Supreme Court decision allowing some companies to opt out of portions of Obamacare for religious reasons also guarantees the right of firms to engage in religiously motivated discrimination against their employees on the basis of gender, a federal judge in Michigan ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox held that the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling on a suit brought by Hobby Lobby craft stores means the Detroit-based RG & GR Funeral Homes was legally protected when the firm fired Aimee Stephens, a transgender employee who wished to dress as a woman.

While the ruling involved a dispute over a transgender employee, the logic could apply to any type of gender or race discrimination a company says is motivated by religious views, lawyers tracking the case said.

Cox said the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, as interpreted by the justices in Hobby Lobby, meant that the sincere religious beliefs of closely held companies like RG & GR had to be respected unless the government could show a need to advance a compelling interest and that letting Stephens wear women’s attire would have the least impact on the religious views of the company’s management.