Obama admin cannot force Christian funeral home to employ a transgender undertaker, judge rules
The Obama administration has been handed a significant legal loss, as a federal judge ruled that it could not force a Christian business owner to employ a transgender man who dresses as a woman. The judge's decision also questioned the administration’s reason for filing the lawsuit. The Obama administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued a Detroit-area funeral home that would not allow an undertaker to dress as a woman while interacting with grieving customers. In 2006, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Home in Garden City hired Anthony Stephens as an undertaker. As part of the process, he agreed to abide by its dress code of white shirts and dark suits for men. But in July 2013, Stephens wrote a letter to his employer saying that he would begin dressing as a female at work and would now be known by the name Aimee. He was subsequently fired. The EEOC said that action violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s prohibition of sex discrimination, “because t...