BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey led a coalition of`18 attorneys general in filing a brief in support of a substitute teacher at a North Carolina Catholic high school who was terminated after announcing plans to marry his same-sex partner, arguing that the First Amendment does not give an employer the right to illegally discriminate against an employee because of their sex.

“No one should be fired because of who they love,” said AG Healey. “We are filing this brief to ensure that our LGBTQ+ workers have equal protections and opportunities in the workplace.”

The brief, filed Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Billard v. Charlotte Catholic High School et al., specifically argues that the First Amendment’s protection for freedom of expressive association does not apply to the employer-employee relationship at issue in the case, and therefore does not afford the school the right to fire the teacher in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The brief supports a ruling by the North Carolina federal district court in favor of the teacher’s arguments that the school violated Title VII by discriminating on the basis of sex.

According to the brief, accepting the expansive theory of expressive association put forward by the school would severely undermine the ability of states to ensure job employment opportunities remain open to everyone. The brief argues that “if any employer could invoke an ‘expressive purpose’ not to...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiS2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm1hc3MuZ292L...