Religious Exemptions

The Washington Supreme Court today unanimously reaffirmed its February 2017 ruling that a Richland, WA, florist had violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) when she refused to sell flowers to a same-sex couple for their wedding.

Lambda Legal, the ACLU, ACLU of South Carolina, and South Carolina Equality Coalition are suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the state of South Carolina on behalf of a married lesbian couple, Eden Rogers and Brandy Welch, who were turned away by a government-funded foster care agency for failing to meet the agency’s religious criteria, which exclude prospective foster parents who are not evangelical Protestant Christian or who are same-sex couples of any faith.

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it will soon issue a new final rule protecting health care providers who refuse to treat LGBTQ people and women and/or trans people seeking reproductive health care, solely on the basis of the providers’ religious or moral objections.