Latest Supreme Court case seeking to expand religious exemptions could seriously harm LGBTQ+ people

Protester holding a bible in front of the Supreme Court
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Supreme Court will hear a religious expression case that could have serious negative outcomes for the LGBTQ+ community.

The case, Groff v. DeJoy, involves Gerald Groff, a former U.S. Postal Service (USPS) worker who, due to his religious beliefs, wanted an exemption from working on Sundays.

“Observing the Sabbath day is critical to many faiths — a day ordained by God,” said Randall Wenger, chief counsel at the Independence Law Center, the religious conservative legal firm representing Groff. “No one should be forced to violate the Sabbath to hold a job.”

Federal law and legal precedent require employers to “reasonably accommodate” their workers’ religious practices in a “de minimis” (minor) way, so as to inflict as little “undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business” as possible, Vox explains.

Religious conservatives and Christian nationalists have long wanted protections for forcing their religious beliefs on others. The Supreme Court’s current 6-to-3 conservative majority has already shown a willingness to misrepresent a case’s facts in order to blur the separation of church and state — just as it did in…

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