Law.com reports:
Eli Lilly & Co. has been hit with a suit claiming it fired a New Jersey drug sales representative for holding a biblically based view on sexual morality. In a case that pits an employee’s right to religious expression against the company’s support of its LGBTQ+ workers, plaintiff Jonathan Samaniego claims he was terminated based on his religious views, in violation of Title VII and New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination.
In Samaniego v. Eli Lilly & Co., the plaintiff began posting scripture passages during a discussion of Pride Month on the company’s in-house employee communication system, Yammer.
On June 14, 2024, Samaniego’s manager, Jacqueline Porter, posted a lengthy message about Pride Month on Yammer, according to the lawsuit. According to Samaniego’s suit, the plaintiff prayed about how to respond to Porter’s Pride Month posting, then made his own post to Yammer from the book of Leviticus, which said, “You shall not sleep with a male as a with a woman. It is an abomination.”
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According to the report, Samaniego was called into HR and told to refrain from such future postings on the company’s system.
However, days later he reportedly posted anti-gay bible verses again, including this from Corinthians: “Do you know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
After refusing to sign a directive agreeing to stop the postings, he was then terminated, per the report.
Samaniego is being represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, which appeared here in 2022 when they sued to block LGBTQ-related questions from the US Census.
The group first appeared on JMG in 2010 when they sued then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in an attempt to force him to defend Proposition 8 in federal court.
In 2012, they attempted to force a California state referendum that would have banned mentioning LGBTQ figures in history lessons.
Also in 2012, they attempted to sanction DOJ attorneys for opposing the Defense of Marriage Act.
The group has repeatedly sued to overturn state bans on ex-gay torture, claiming that 80% of ex-gay “conversions” are successful.
In 2019 they sued California to end sexual education and HIV prevention instructions in public schools.
The Pacific Justice Institute, their parent organization, was named a hate group by the SPLC in 2014.
Since the advent of the pandemic, the group has also filed multiple lawsuits against COVID protocols and vaccine mandates.