Alaska Airlines fired two Christian flight attendants for expressing opposition to the company’s endorsement of the so-called Equality Act, and while a district court rejected their lawsuit, an appeals court revived the case, giving them their day in court.
The flight attendants, Lacey Smith and Marli Brown, both Christians, responded to Alaska Airlines’ announcement of support for the Equality Act in February 2021, making comments in an employee-only online network. Company management and the leader of the employees’ union, the Association of Flight Attendants, condemned Smith and Brown in internal discussions.
After an investigation, Alaska Airlines fired Brown and Smith on March 19, 2021, claiming both flight attendants had violated the company’s anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.
Although a district court judge had ruled in favor of Alaska Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit resurrected the case and set it on the path toward trial, holding that Brown and Smith had presented enough evidence for a jury to find that the airline and the union discriminated against them because of their religious beliefs.
“The Ninth Circuit’s decision today reinforces that federal civil rights laws protect people of faith from discrimination by their employer or their union,” Stephanie Taub, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, who represents the flight attendants in court, said in a statement following the ruling Wednesday. “You cannot be fired because your employer does not like your religious beliefs.”
Evidence of Anti-Christian Bias
Judge Daniel A. Bress, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote the opinion for the 9th Circuit.
“We hold that the plaintiffs have demonstrated a genuine dispute of material fact whether Alaska terminated them because of their religious beliefs and whether [the union] attempted to cause or acquiesced in their firing on this unlawful basis,” Bress wrote.
The case traces back to Alaska Airlines’ endorsement of the Equality Act, legislation that would amend the federal laws barring discrimination on the basis of sex to also ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The law would require most companies, employers, and places of public accommodation to allow men in women’s spaces and vice versa, so long as the men claimed to identify as women.
Internal company records show that Alaska understood that “the issue touches on religious freedom concerns for some.”
Smith, a flight attendant who worked at Alaska Airlines for six years, posted, “As a company, do you think it’s possible to regulate morality?”
Alaska management discussed Smith’s post internally. Andy Schneider, the company’s senior vice president of people, coordinated with the Association of Flight Attendants’ Master Executive Council President Jeffrey Peterson, the union leader in charge of administering the collective bargaining agreement with Alaska.
“Supporting the Equality Act is not about regulating morality,” the official response reads. “It’s about supporting laws that allow our LGBTQ+ employees and guests, no matter what state they live in or fly to, to be protected against discrimination. Our values are our guide, and we strongly believe that doing the right thing and being kind-hearted require us to support this act.”
“We also expect our employees to live by these same values,” the company stated. “As stated in our People Policies, harassment and discrimination will not be tolerated.”
In internal Alaska emails, company lawyer Taylor Ball wrote, “Employees actually do not have the right to believe that LGBTQ rights are ‘immoral.’”
Peterson, the union leader, wrote of Smith: “Employees get to be bigots in their private lives and to express their bigoted and misinformed opinions while not at work—as horrifying as that may be.” He added, “The post is reprehensible and there should be repercussions.” Peterson separately texted an Alaska pilot, “I hate her,” referring to Smith.
Peterson still informed his union colleagues that the union would “represent [Smith] through the grievance process fairly, in good faith, and without discrimination.”
Brown, a flight attendant who worked at Alaska Airlines for eight years, wrote a more forceful condemnation of the Equality Act.
“Does Alaska support: endangering the Church, encouraging suppression of religious freedom, obliterating women’s rights and parental rights?” she asked. “This act will force every American to agree with controversial government-imposed ideology or be treated as an outlaw.”
The company launched investigations into both women. According to the company’s own report, Brown stated that she “loves her [LGBTQ] co-workers and that the company support[s] equity as it relates to them,” but she expressed her concerns about the legislation. She went on to express remorse for any offense and claimed she “had no intent to discriminate or create hostility.”
The airline fired both employees, claiming their comments were “discriminatory,” “hateful,” and “offensive.”
“Defining gender identity or sexual orientation as a moral issue” is “a discriminatory statement,” the airline said in its notice of discharge to Smith.
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]
