Transgender Rights Lose One Round to Religious Rights

Religious liberty and transgender rights are two of the signature civil-rights issues of our era. So it was only a matter of time before these competing ideals of freedom and equality came into direct conflict -- and now a federal district court has held that religious-liberty laws can trump the laws that prohibit sex-based discrimination. The decision is an indication that the courts need to recognize bias against transgender people as a form of sex discrimination.

The case involves an employee of a Michigan funeral home who began transitioning from male to female. The funeral home has a gendered dress code that requires male funeral directors to wear suits with trousers and female directors to wear skirt suits. The employer refused to allow the transitioning employee to wear a skirt suit on the job, firing her when she refused to wear the men’s attire.