Luke Ash, a pastor and former library services technician in Louisiana, is in court fighting for his religious freedom.
A Christian, Ash believes that God created two sexes — male and female. He refuses to lie and refer to a woman by male pronouns. Ash has a right to live his faith, not just to believe.
But the East Baton Rouge Parish Library disagreed and fired him.
Liberty Counsel (LC), which represents Ash, sent a demand letter to the library and ended up filing a federal lawsuit on his behalf. LC just filed a response brief in court.
The library’s “Inclusivity Policy” requires employees — religious or not — to ignore their common sense and their own eyes and participate in other employees’ odd fantasies.
The library, which argued that Ash sued too many parties, seeks to remove several officials and government bodies from the lawsuit. From LC:
The defendants seek to narrow the case’s defendants to the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge arguing it is redundant to name individual officials in their official capacities since they are already legally encompassed within the city government and a lawsuit against them is effectively the same as a lawsuit against the city itself.
“There is no compelling interest in requiring Pastor Ash to lie or affirm false sex-based pronouns,” said Mat Staver, LC founder and chairman. “Employers cannot force people to choose between their faith and their livelihood.”
Sorry, leftists. Calling a policy “inclusive” does not trump the Constitution’s religious freedom guarantee.
Photo credit: Liberty Counsel
