The American
Civil Liberties Union and the Americans United for
Separation of Church and State filed an appeal Thursday
to strip federal funding from Kentucky Baptist Homes
for Children, a public child care institution that
allegedly religiously indoctrinates children and
discriminates against LGBT people in their hiring practices.
"We
strongly believe that any group taking public funds should
not discriminate in hiring or proselytize,"
said Joe Conn, press contact for Americans United.
"Kentucky Baptist Homes takes buckets of public
funds, yet they still try to indoctrinate the children
in their care."
The brief that
was filed detailed information about how the institution
attempted to influence children's religious beliefs,
including court statements from the children
describing how they were forced to attend Baptist
services and forbidden from practicing their own religion.
It also outlined how KBHC explicitly stated in its
hiring policies that under no circumstances would the
organization hire anyone who was known to be gay or
lesbian. "Homosexuality is a lifestyle that would
prohibit employment," read the policy.
According to
senior litigation counsel Alex Luchenitser,
"It's discrimination supported by public
money" that takes advantage of "the
rights of taxpayers and lesbian and gay people."
While it is legal
for private religious institutions to take faith-based
beliefs into consideration in their hiring and firing
practices, according to the lawsuit, KBHC should have
refrained from allowing those choices to be influenced
by religion once they began accepting federal funding.
The lawsuit,
which was originally filed back in 2000, contends that
the public funding allocated to KBHC is being used for
religious purposes and is therefore violating the
Constitution. The suit has been twice dismissed based
on legal technicalities.
The process began
nearly 10 years ago when former family specialist
Alicia Pedreira was fired from KBHC after a photograph of
Pedreira and her partner participating in an AIDS walk
was displayed at the Kentucky State Fair and noted by
Pedreira's coworkers, who then reported it to
their supervisor.
The termination
statement Pedreira received from the KBHC read that she
was "being terminated...because her admitted
homosexual lifestyle is contrary to Kentucky Baptist
Homes for Children core values" despite her
excellent performance reviews. According to Luchenitser,
"[Pedreira] worked very well with the children
and the children loved her."
In a press
statement, Pedreira said, "It was unfair to be fired
for being a lesbian. It's not right that an
organization that is funded by state and federal
dollars to do work for the state can get away with
this."
A public
statement from KBHC released soon after Pedreira was
dismissed defended its actions, saying, "It is
important that we stay true to our Christian
values."
Eight other
individuals joined Pedreira in the lawsuit filed against
KBHC, first in July of 2001 and then again in March of this
year. Luchenitser is hopeful that the third time will
be the charm for this case. "We're
fairly optimistic that we'll prevail," he
said, adding, "You never know what the
court's going to do."
KBHC could not be
reached for comment for this article. (Hannah Clay
Wareham, The Advocate)
