This person was not fired for his religious beliefs. He was fired for pushing his beliefs on others and doing something at work on work property that their employer told them not to do. How many of us get to disregard the orders of our bosses and when fired claim it was because of ours religious beliefs?
But this is entirely about getting the case to the SCOTUS to move the US a little closer to making Christianity the official religion of the country, and cementing into law that Christians do not have to follow the non-discrimination laws due to being Christians, so above such laws. It is about making Christians above any law or rule because of … god, because you can make the bible say anything you desire. It is about making it legal for Christians to push their religious beliefs on coworkers while insulting and refusing to work with those they claim their god dislikes. And forcing the employer to make special concessions to them again based on what they claim their holy book says and it is only their holy book that counts. Hugs.
Eli Lilly & Co. has been hit with a suit claiming it fired a New Jersey drug sales representative for holding a biblically based view on sexual morality. In a case that pits an employee’s right to religious expression against the company’s support of its LGBTQ+ workers, plaintiff Jonathan Samaniego claims he was terminated based on his religious views, in violation of Title VII and New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination.
In Samaniego v. Eli Lilly & Co., the plaintiff began posting scripture passages during a discussion of Pride Month on the company’s in-house employee communication system, Yammer.
On June 14, 2024, Samaniego’s manager, Jacqueline Porter, posted a lengthy message about Pride Month on Yammer, according to the lawsuit. According to Samaniego’s suit, the plaintiff prayed about how to respond to Porter’s Pride Month posting, then made his own post to Yammer from the book of Leviticus, which said, “You shall not sleep with a male as a with a woman. It is an abomination.”
According to the report, Samaniego was called into HR and told to refrain from such future postings on the company’s system.
However, days later he reportedly posted anti-gay bible verses again, including this from Corinthians: “Do you know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
After refusing to sign a directive agreeing to stop the postings, he was then terminated, per the report.
Samaniego is being represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, which appeared here in 2022 when they sued to block LGBTQ-related questions from the US Census.
The group first appeared on JMG in 2010 when they sued then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in an attempt to force him to defend Proposition 8 in federal court.
In 2012, they attempted to force a California state referendum that would have banned mentioning LGBTQ figures in history lessons.
Also in 2012, they attempted to sanction DOJ attorneys for opposing the Defense of Marriage Act.
The group has repeatedly sued to overturn state bans on ex-gay torture, claiming that 80% of ex-gay “conversions” are successful.
In 2019 they sued California to end sexual education and HIV prevention instructions in public schools.
The Pacific Justice Institute, their parent organization, was named a hate group by the SPLC in 2014.
Since the advent of the pandemic, the group has also filed multiple lawsuits against COVID protocols and vaccine mandates.
“…fired …for holding a biblically based view on sexual morality…”
No, you have the right to hold any view you choose. You were fired for spreading it around on company media, which you mistakenly thought was a pulpit. Your religious beliefs are YOUR beliefs, just yours.
The company has a right to its policies, seriously, it’s right there in virtually every employee handbook of the majority of companies. You used company property to push your cult bullshit, thus committing acts of discrimination, they warned you and you chose to violate the policy again.
Also, this is in no way a Title VII violation of your rights as you had been told, via the company, that you were violating their employee guidelines and non-discrimination policy that they set. The irony of you suing for doing what you claim they did to you is hilarious. This should be laughed out of court, but in present day USA, anything religious takes priority, even over other human rights.
I’m from Louisiana, mostly. But I always tell people I’m from the part of the state that’s not fun, which means I’m not from New Orleans because that’s the impression most people get when I say I’m from Louisiana. Yes, I am a Saints fan. Who dat?
It breaks my heart to see New Orleans suffer. While I haven’t been there in over two decades, it’s a city I love. While every city is different and has its own character, New Orleans is special. I read somewhere a long time ago that the four most distinctive cities in this nation are Boston, Austin, San Francisco, and New Orleans. I don’t know if I believe that because I’d throw New York City and Chicago into that mix.
But like New York City, New Orleans knows how to rebound after a disaster. While 9/11 was hard, it didn’t destroy NYC. Katrina nearly destroyed New Orleans and the city was down for the count, but it’s back. And I assure you that an ISIS-inspired terrorist from Texas isn’t going to take the city out either.
And now I want an oyster po’boy.
What New Orleans nor the nation needs right now is Donald Trump.
Trump has blamed this attack on President Biden, open “border’s,” and immigrants. He also trashed law enforcement. But the thing is, this attack wasn’t perpetuated by an immigrant but by a U.S.-born citizen who’s in the military.
Donald Trump probably followed a false news report by Fox News, which they quickly corrected, but Trump doubled down on his lies.
But Trump isn’t just any American citizen. He’s the president-elect. He is receiving an intelligence briefing daily which means he knows he’s lying.
The election is over, so what the hell is Trump campaigning for? He’s scaring America so it’ll go along with his hate agenda, especially when he starts rounding up immigrants along with his enemies.
Creative note: I thought I had my idea for this in my head yesterday. But I went north to Northern Virginia last night and when I started work this morning in a different location, I decided I didn’t like my original idea. But then this hit me.
January 4, 1961 The longest recorded labor strike ended after 33 years: Danish barbers’ assistants had begun their strike in 1938 in Copenhagen.
January 4, 1965 The Free Speech Movement held its first legal rally in Sproul Plaza of the University of California at Berkeley.
January 4, 1974 President Richard Nixon refused to release tape recordings of Oval Office discussions and other documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee investigating illegal activities of the president’s re-election committee.
Remember that Mace doesn’t believe in her rhetoric, she just wants the media attention. She wants the adoration she thinks that having people paying attention to her gives to her. She is a child desperately acting out to get the adults to pay attention to her. She is the child who never accepted she was at fault or mistaken but wants to blame everyone else including those pretend causes in her head alone. She was for trans rights, a big supporter of LGBTQ+ equality and inclusion when she felt it gained her media attention. Then when she saw the attention the Libs of TikTok and other haters on social media get, she waited for the opportunity to create enough spectacle for the spotlight to land on her. She tweeted over 500 times in 2 days on the bird site trying to milk the situation for views and clicks, often forgetting to switch to her burner accounts to praise her own stance. But now the drama has died down and no one is looking so she doesn’t care. She has to find the new outrage to pounce on. Maybe she will again throw a fit, and try to get some of the attention she got the first time, but she knows she has to wait, as it would be overwhelmed by current events. No if she still wants it, she will wait until about a couple of months in then claim she couldn’t use a bathroom because it is full of trans women. Hugs
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Josh Fiallo
Evelyn Hockstein / REUTERS
Nancy Mace’s hopes of banning transgender women from sharing a bathroom with her on Capitol Hill appear dashed for now.
The South Carolina Republican’s controversial bathroom ban was not included in the GOP’s House rules package unveiled this week—a surprise omission less than two months after Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly assured Mace it would be included.
The resolution was all the rage in November, with Mace pulling out different theatrics to drum up support for the ban. That included her using a bullhorn to read Miranda rights to sit-in protesters and using anti-transgender slurs to reference them.
Mace admitted her ban was to target the newly-elected Rep. Sarah McBride, a transgender Democrat from Delaware. Mace’s office did not respond to questions texted by the Daily Beast on Friday.
Johnson announced on Nov. 20 that “all single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings […] are reserved for individuals of that biological sex.” This suggested he backed Mace’s proposal even if he was not as fervent in his public comments, but it is unclear why the ban didn’t make into the latest rules package.
“We welcome all new members with open arms who are duly elected representatives of the people,” Johnson said the day prior. “I believe it’s a command that we treat all persons with dignity and respect.”
Mace doesn’t appear to have any bad blood over the omission. She posted Friday morning that Johnson still had her vote to remain House Speaker.
“A vote for @SpeakerJohnson is a vote for President Trump’s America First agenda,” she wrote. “After the last few days of chaos we’ve seen in these tumultuous times, we need steady leadership and continuity. We need to stick together and get to work. We don’t have any time to waste.”
Rep. Sarah McBride, a Democrat from Delaware, is the first openly transgender member of Congress. / Bill Clark/Getty Images
While McBride was the resolution’s target, the ban would have applied to any trans person in the Capitol, including staffers and visitors
McBride, the first openly-trans member of Congress, has not commented on the ban’s omission. Back in November, she did not try to go toe-to-toe with Mace on the matter—instead asserting that she would follow whatever the House rules were.
“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms,” she wrote in a statement. “I will follow the rules as outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them.”
As other countries with much smaller fundamentalist Christian influence over the government are working steadily towards equality and full legal rights of the LGBTQ+ communities the US is falling backwards in a regressive retreat of minority rights. Again for some reason driven by fundamentalist Christian religious groups who create problems that never existed and use lies to promote disinformation creating hate towards the minorities they target. You ask why the republicans have partnered with these fundamentalist Christians? Because both groups seen the lost of group power over society they banded together to force society back to a time and culture when they did have majority power. It comes down to power over others, and control of society. I did not think that Christians believed in that. At least I know Rev. Ed Trevors doesn’t. But for far too many tradition, what was done by my grandparents, done by my parents, should be done by me also. That is wrong because time, cultures, and the understandings change. Hugs.
2017 MAY 08. TOKYO JAPAN. LGBT rainbow flag covered on back of a man
The Fukuoka High Court of Japan has become the third of Japan’s eight high courts to rule that the government’s policy against same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. However, the court upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed three same-sex couples who had sought 1 million yen ($6,540) each for being denied their constitutional rights to gender and legal equality, individual dignity, and the pursuit of happiness.
The couples, who live in the southwestern cities of Fukuoka and Kumamoto, had their damage claims dismissed by the Fukuoka District Court in 2023 after the court ruled that the government wasn’t obliged to compensate them or legalize marriage equality legislation despite being in “state of unconstitutionality,” The Mainichi reported.
Trans people just scored an important win for bodily autonomy and freedom.
High Court Judge Takeshi Okada ruled that civil laws forbidding same-sex marriages violate the nation’s constitution, saying, “There is no longer any reason to not legally recognize marriage between same-sex couples.” However, he noted that any change in national marriage laws must be decided by Japan’s legislature, known as the National Diet.
As the judge read his ruling, a 35-year-old plaintiff identified in the media as Kosuke couldn’t stop crying. Despite this, his 37-year-old partner Masahiro said “[the judge] understood our suffering, and I felt very reassured.”
Opponents of marriage equality in Japan have noted that Article 24 of the Japanese constitution specifically states, “Marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis.”
However, marriage equality advocates have also pointed out that the constitution’s other articles state, “The people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights,” and, “All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.”
Regardless, in October the Tokyo High Court ruled similarly, echoing another one made by the Sapporo High Court in March, which said that limiting marriage to couples of the opposite sex is “unconstitutional” and “discriminatory.” Despite the rulings, the country’s judiciary doesn’t have the power to overturn existing civil marriage codes.
Marriage equality has divided the country’s court system in opposing rulings over several years. Meanwhile, Japan’s conservative government lags behind increasingly supportive public opinion. Seventy percent of the Japanese public supports marriage equality, but it faces opposition from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The party lost its parliamentary majority in last Sunday’s election and will likely have to compromise on more liberal policies pushed by the opposition parties, like marriage equality, the aforementioned publication noted.
Right now, Japan doesn’t offer national LGBTQ+ non-discrimination protections or same-sex marriage. As a result, LGBTQ+ people in Japan often face inequities in employment, housing, education, and health care.
More than 200 Japanese municipalities offer some form of recognition for same-sex couples. Such recognition can help same-sex couples rent apartments together, visit each other in city hospitals, and receive other services that married heterosexual couples enjoy.
Though several jurisdictions offer “partnership certificates,” they’re entirely symbolic and don’t offer federal benefits given to married heterosexual couples.
LGBTQ+ advocacy groups have pushed for a national bill that would enshrine equal civil rights and non-discrimination protections into law. However, the conservative party of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida helped defeat the effort in the lead-up to the 2021 Olympic Summer Games.
Japan remains the only country in the G7, a political and economic forum of seven of the world’s most advanced economies, that has not legalized marriage equality. Currently, the only Asian countries that have legalized same-sex marriage are Taiwan, Nepal, and Thailand.
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The responses were taken from the organization’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People which made the following open-ended request to respondents (who were between the ages of 13 and 24): “We would love for you to share a message of advice or encouragement to other young people in the LGBTQ community.”
“I walk around my city, and I see businesses that have gay pride flags and pride flags in their windows,” one gay man said.
One respondent wrote, “Finding a sense of community helps so much, whether it’s online or in person. Just find a place where you can ask questions and read about other people’s experiences.”
Another stressed the importance of envisioning a better future and doing what one can to cultivate community support now.
“Find your group and work towards where you wanna be in life and you’ll make it there,” one wrote, as other offered encouraging words like, “Keep pushing,” “Keep going for another day,” “Just keep going, please,” and “Please keep strong.”
Another urged resilience and perseverance. “Be yourself always,” they wrote. “You may lose connections along the way but trust, there’s someone out there who will love you.” Another respondent agreed, writing, “Just look for the people who love you no matter what.”
Others urged self-compassion and patience as young people figure out their identities. One such message said, “Don’t rush finding your identity. Take your time to explore, and don’t be afraid to take up labels if they feel right at the time.”
Some respondents suggested repeating self-affirmations like the following:
I love you.
I believe in you.
You got this.
You are so strong and you are deserving of love always.
“Wake up everyday, and tell yourself you love yourself — until, one day, you believe it,” one young person wrote.
Other respondents acknowledged the adversity faced by young LGBTQ+ people, whether in politics or unaccepting homes.
“[It’s] very easy to think that the entire world [despises] you for who you are when your home environment conveys that,” one wrote. “You might not feel safe and happy now,” another wrote, “but hopefully, there will come a day when you find your home.”
“Don’t let the people around you tell you that you can’t love who you want and feel what you want to feel,” one respondent wrote.
Another added, “I know things look down right now and it’s hard to see past the hate that’s being spread but it always helps to remember that most people don’t hate us and that there are tons of us out there that are willing to help.”
“We’ve always been here. And we always will be,” another wrote. “They cannot erase us.”
Other respondents advised doing things to lessen negativity.
“Ignore the Idiots and cut people off if [you] have too [sic]. Life is too short to care what people think about you and they don’t even have to live your life and experience the things you do.”
In the same vein, another respondent replied, “Don’t let the people around you tell you that you can’t love who you want and feel what you want to feel.”
“Peer support is associated with lower levels of emotional and behavioral distress among LGBTQ+ young people,” the Trevor Project wrote. “However, not all LGBTQ+ young people have consistent access to peer support, especially LGBTQ+ young people who hold multiple marginalized identities.”
As such “hearing words of encouragement and advice from fellow LGBTQ+ young people has never been more needed,” the group added.
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2017 MAY 08. TOKYO JAPAN. LGBT rainbow flag covered on back of a man
Scottie's Playtime 