A group of Protestant churches in North Carolina has filed an amicus brief supporting a gay plaintiff’s Title VII claim against the Catholic school that fired him in 2014, according to Law360.
Lonnie Billard, who taught drama and English at Charlotte Catholic High School for over fifteen years, and was the recipient of the teacher of the year award at the school in 2012, was fired from his job as a long-term substitute in 2014, after announcing his marriage to his partner, Richard, on Facebook.
After the firing, Billard sued his employer in the lawsuit Billard v. Charlotte Catholic High School, Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools, & Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte. A district court initially ruled in favor of Billard under a Title VII claim, which protects people from discrimination on the basis of gender. The defendants argued that they were exempt from non-discrimination law due to their status as religious entities.
According to Crux, the district court reasoned that the decision to fire Billiard was not protected by religious exemption.The basis for this ruling was the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which extended Title VII protections to LGBTQ+ people.
Billard’s discrimination case is now before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the most recent development, an ecumenical coalition led by the North Carolina Council of Churches filed an amicus brief in December that argued in favor of Billard. The forty-two page brief contests the logic offered by the defendants that religious organizations have a constitutional right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ employees in non-ministerial roles:
“We specifically reject the argument from the diocese and its amici that forbidding religious bodies from discriminating in the employment of nonministers burdens their free exercise of religion.”
