Court rules ex-teacher in same-sex marriage may sue Pennsylvania diocese (Religion Clause)

A federal district court judge ruled that a former teacher may proceed with a discrimination lawsuit against the Diocese of Greensburg in Pennsylvania. The lawsuit, filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, follows the dismissal of a Lutheran sixth-grade teacher from Aquinas Academy, a Catholic school in Greensburg, after the school learned he was in a same-sex marriage.

Judge Nicholas Ranjan declined to dismiss the case, stating that Congress intended for religious exemptions in Title VII not to apply to sex discrimination motivated by religion.