Yakima Union Gospel Mission Wins Religious Freedom Victory

by Jeff Johnston | November 5, 2024 | Religious Freedom

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled last Friday that the state of Washington could not enforce a nondiscrimination law against the Yakima Union Gospel Mission while its lawsuit against the state moved forward.

The Mission was challenging a recent redefinition of the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) which forbids discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation. That nondiscrimination law is in conflict with the Mission’s deeply held Christian beliefs about marriage, sexuality and relationships.

According to the complaint filed against the state by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a nonprofit legal aid organization that works to defend First Amendment rights:

The Mission’s employees must adhere to certain Christian belief and behavior requirements – including abstaining from any sexual conduct outside of biblical marriage between one man and one woman – in order to properly live out and represent a Christian lifestyle and to not undermine the Mission’s religious message.

The Mission has provided shelter, meals, clothing, addiction-recovery, medical and dental help, and emergency care for thousands of needy people for the past 85 years. The lawsuit explains that the ministry serves anyone in need:

The Mission offers temporary and emergency shelter services for the homeless 365 days a year and provides a family shelter for families with minor children, including same sex and transgender couples with children. Last fiscal year (July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022), the Mission provided a total of 30,167 nights of shelter to 881 different adults and 3,592 nights of shelter for children.

The Mission’s Good News Café gives out free meals three times a day to the public and shelter guests, serving 141,629 free meals to the hungry during that same period.

Until 2021, the Christian ministry could hire employees who agreed with its Christian beliefs, because of a religious exemption in Washington’s nondiscrimination law.

But that same year, the state Supreme Court narrowed that exemption in a case involving another ministry, Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. The court held that, for hiring purposes, the religious exemption in WLAD only applied to those in ministerial positions.

The Yakima Mission has more than 150 employees, including those in non-ministerial positions, such as IT technicians, thrift store workers and operations assistants, all of whom are expected to agree with and follow the ministry’s Christian beliefs. The ministry simply wants to hire staff who will further its goal of caring for the needy and spreading the gospel.

But the Washington Supreme Court’s decision opened those positions to anyone, including those who might disagree with some of the Mission’s beliefs. And the state’s attorney general has already begun investigating other Christian organizations that want to hire individuals in alignment with their beliefs.

For example, the complaint explains that the attorney general began investigating Seattle Pacific University, a Christian college, because of its “beliefs and policies on marriage and human sexuality.”

The school is pursuing its own lawsuit against the state with the aid of the Becket Fund, a Christian legal aid organization.

The recent decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is an important one, allowing the lawsuit to move forward and preventing the attorney general from enforcing this unconstitutional interpretation of Washington’s nondiscrimination law.

ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Tucker, director of the organization’s Center for Christian Ministries, explained in a press release:

The Constitution gives religious organizations the freedom to hire employees who are aligned with and live out their religious beliefs.

Yakima Union Gospel Mission exists to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through its homeless shelter, addiction-recovery programs, outreach efforts, meal services, and health clinics. But it faces substantial penalties under Washington state law for simply engaging in its freedom to hire fellow believers who share the mission’s calling to spread the Gospel and care for vulnerable people in the Yakima community.

Tucker added, “We are pleased the court ruled to protect the ministry’s constitutional rights as this lawsuit proceeds.”

The case is Union Gospel Mission of Yakima v. Ferguson.

Related articles and resources:

Federal Court Delivers Legal Victory for Religious Hiring Rights at Faith-Based Schools

Lawsuit by Church Organist Falls Flat; Appeals Court Resolves Case on High Note for Religious Freedom

Ohio Pastor Facing Criminal Charges for Opening Church Doors to Homeless

Supreme Court Affirms Religious Schools’ Right to Hire and Fire Teachers

Wyoming Rescue Mission Fights for Right to Hire Christian Employees – and Wins

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