Chelsea Langston, IRFA’s Director of Membership and Equipping, is participating in a Respectful Conversation discussion hosted by Harold Heie. This conversation, in December, 2015, features a dialogue between her and Kathryn Brightbill on religious freedom and LGBT discrimination. This is the seventh month of conversation topics exploring human sexuality from varying perspectives among Christians. As the website notes: “The purpose of this conversation is to provide a welcoming space for those Christians who disagree about LGBT issues to express their views and model respectful conversation about their disagreements.”

The question for Langston and her conversation partner is whether faith-based institutions should be exempt from sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) nondiscrimination laws in housing, employment, and consumer protection.

Langston focused her contributions largely on the importance that SOGI legislation include a religious exemption protecting the employment practices of religious organizations. She writes,

“It seems that, in general, requiring SOGI nondiscrimination in housing (beyond the smallest facilities and religious shelters) and in credit fulfills the civil rights and religious value of fairness to all, and rarely will pose religious freedom problems. People and organizations of faith should then support SOGI laws focused on housing and credit opportunity without much reservation. But other areas are much more complex.”

Brightbill also emphasized the importance of passing SOGI laws, but urged that faith-based organizations should not be given any exemptions: “After all, the Bible said to love your neighbor and to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and I didn’t see any exceptions.”

Langston wrote, in response, “Mission-centric employment practices are essential to most organizations, not just religious ones. Many secular employers require their employees adhere to conduct aligned with their missions. For example, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) lists right on their job descriptions that a requirement of employment is ‘adherence to a healthy vegan lifestyle.’ It is easy to understand why it would undercut the organization’s mission for a PETA employee to be seen at the local Burger King enjoying a Whopper, even when she is off the clock. Likewise, Planned Parenthood job descriptions specify that applicants must demonstrate ‘commitment to the goals and mission of Planned Parenthood.’ This would, most certainly, limit a Planned Parenthood employee’s ability to attend pro-life rallies on her own time, because this conduct would be inconsistent with the mission of her employer.”

She continued,

“In America, we see a diverse and differentiated spectrum of civil society organizations, many whose missions are often directly at odds with one another. Faith-based organizations need the continued protection to be able to hire individuals who embody not just the specific service-sector mission of the organization, but the faith-centric aspects of the mission as well.”