Richard Mast of Liberty Counsel says the East Baton Rouge Parish Library in Louisiana fired Pastor Luke Ash in July from his job as a technician there when he failed an "ideological purity test."
"One day, he had met with a colleague who said that another trainee was going to be joining his department," Mast details. "The colleague referenced the female trainee with false 'he' pronouns, and Pastor Luke expressed that he does not use false pronouns, and that kicked this off."
All of the pastor's exchanges regarding the matter were with other personnel, never in the presence of the female trainee. A colleague filed a complaint with the other superiors at the library, and they ultimately terminated Ash for not referencing the female trainee as "he."
Mast says the library's current policy, which simply says that employees must be addressed with their preferred pronouns, defies logic and common English language, as people do not generally use he/she pronouns when interacting with another person.
In addition to sending a letter demanding "that the Library Board reinstate Mr. Ash to the position from which he was improperly terminated and revise its unconstitutional pronoun policy and practices to respect the religious free exercise rights of all employees," Liberty Counsel is assisting the pastor in filing a Title VII religious discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Mast says that gives the Trump administration a chance to also intervene on behalf of the religious free exercise rights of Americans who should not be forced to use false pronouns.
"Employers cannot force people to choose between their faith and their livelihood," Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver points out in a press release. "The library has a chance to reinstate Pastor Ash and rectify this potentially costly mistake."
Liberty Counsel wants a response to its October 17 demand letter by November 10. They want the library to reinstate Ash to his job and provide him with back pay.
If the library does not comply, a lawsuit is expected.
