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Southern Baptists Oppose Ban on Anti-Gay Discrimination ACLU Enters Court at 'Ground Zero' in a National Debate |
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Compiled By GayToday
In legal papers filed, the ACLU asked a state court to allow the broad civil rights coalition that helped pass the ordinance, along with several local residents, to enter a Southern Baptist couple's lawsuit against the city. The couple claims that Henderson's prohibition on anti-gay housing discrimination violates their religious liberties, and they are asking the court to invalidate the ordinance. The local residents represented by the ACLU, many of whom have religious backgrounds, are protected by the ordinance, and have an interest in seeing it upheld. Anti-gay groups have chosen Kentucky as "ground zero" in their attempts to establish legal precedent that individuals' religious beliefs can completely circumvent civil rights laws nationwide, according to Michael Adams, Associate Director of the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. While the ACLU views such legal challenges as "very thin, and bordering on frivolous," Adams said the organization becomes involved on behalf of local communities in part to send a message to other cities and counties that are considering passing nondiscrimination laws.
The couple in Henderson and the doctor in Louisville are represented by the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal group founded by Pat Robertson. Robertson's group has threatened similar action in other cities, counties and states with nondiscrimination laws. "For anti-gay, right-wing groups, these cases are about far more than a couple of towns in Kentucky. They have organized a baseless attack to try to undo decades of progress toward equality," Adams said. "But their legal house of cards will quickly crumble. Our laws and the Constitution rightly protect religious groups, but they simply do not allow people to use personal religious beliefs as an excuse to deny someone a job or a home." The ordinances in Louisville and Henderson--like most similar laws nationwide--provide exceptions for religious groups and organizations controlled by religious groups. "Reasonable provisions have been made to ensure that religious liberties are protected," Adams said. "These efforts in Kentucky are now using religious freedom as a smokescreen for discrimination." Some of the Henderson residents represented by the ACLU today said they became involved in the case because religious freedom was being invoked improperly. The citizens include Jim and Glenda Guess, leaders of the Henderson chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). The Guess' gay son, Ben, is a local minister. Sister M. Pauletta Kane, SCN, a Pastoral Care worker at Henderson's Holy Name Parish, is also asking to become a party in the case. Another resident seeking to enter the lawsuit is Lyman Allen, Jr., a 54-year-old lifetime Henderson resident who currently lives with his 22-year-old daughter. Mr. Allen, who is the gay son of a minister could face housing discrimination without the Fairness Ordinance. The Guesses and Sister Kane have a direct interest in the case because the Fairness Ordinance also bars discrimination against people who support equality or associate with gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Meanwhile, Adams said the ACLU will ask a federal court to dismiss the Louisville case later this summer, based in part on information gathered during the deposition of Dr. J. Barrett Hyman, the obstetrician/gynecologist represented by Robertson's group. "The testimony in the Louisville case reveals the truly cynical and baseless nature of these legal challenges. It also reveals the extent to which anti-gay people are willing to distort religion -- and use it highly selectively -- in order to discriminate," Adams said. "We are eager to get that information in front of the court." With the Louisville case proceeding, Adams said the ACLU is taking on the challenge to Henderson's ordinance to deliver a legal "one-two punch that will end these right-wing efforts in Kentucky and, much more broadly, stop this calculated campaign from spreading nationwide." The lawsuit against the city of Henderson was filed earlier this year on behalf of Rick and Connie Hile, a Southern Baptist couple who claim to own three rental properties in the city. The Hiles claim that these rental properties are a critical source of income, since they are not employed. According to the Hiles' joint affidavit, filed in court earlier this month, renting to gay, lesbian or bisexual people would be "facilitating or supporting such sinful lifestyles." The Hiles claim this would mean "seriously violating our spiritual commitment to and our relationship with God." The Hiles' claim continues, "We further believe that being forced to rent our properties to people who engage in homosexual or bisexual practices would be contrary to the traditional family image we seek to maintain in our rental business and would have an adverse impact on the neighborhoods in which our rental properties are found." According to court records filed by the Hiles, two of the three properties are on the same block as the Hiles' home. "The court is being asked to believe that these people have a constitutional right to keep gay people from living next door," Adams said. "This is all eerily similar to the struggles we had in the 1960s and 1970s, with people who looked for every reason imaginable to refuse to hire or rent to African Americans, women and religious minorities. It was wrong then, and it's still wrong today." If courts determine that anti-gay discrimination is permissible based on religious beliefs, similar claims could be brought to allow discrimination based on race and gender, Adams said. "If these legal efforts in Kentucky go unchallenged, there could be considerable consequences for a spectrum of minority groups," he explained. The Henderson case is Rick Hile and Connie Hile v. City of Henderson, et al. A hearing on the ACLU's request to enter the lawsuit is set for Monday in Henderson. The Louisville case is J. Barrett Hyman v. City of Louisville, et al. |
Henderson, Kentucky--In a developing legal showdown that could affect laws
banning anti-gay discrimination in 11 states and more than 100 communities
nationwide, the American Civil Liberties Union struck back yesterday against
claims that a city ordinance in Henderson, Kentucky, violates some
landlords' religious freedoms by prohibiting them from discriminating
based on sexual orientation.
