Minnesota Republicans accuse DFL of ‘unprecedented attack’ on religious groups

A group of Catholics, Lutherans, Jews and Muslims are trying to persuade state lawmakers to restore an exemption in the Minnesota Human Rights Act protecting religious organizations and schools against claims of gender identity-based discrimination.

The religious groups and schools want to be able to hire people who adhere to their beliefs, e.g., they want to forgo hiring trans people without the threat of civil rights litigation. The majority Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party at the Capitol has largely ignored their pleas.

Last year, lawmakers modernized definitions in the Minnesota Human Rights Act prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. But no corresponding religious exemption was added for gender identity, so current law allows a church to discriminate against a gay applicant but not a trans applicant.

Some Republican lawmakers assumed it was an oversight, and introduced stand-alone bills and amendments to restore the exemption, but were thwarted in committees, sparking passionate, angry exchanges between conservative Republicans in the Legislature and DFL lawmakers.

Republicans held a press conference Monday, March 25 to try to draw attention to the issue, complaining that the mainstream press has largely ignored what they called an “unprecedented attack” on religious autonomy.

House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, portrayed DFL resistance as part of an “alarming rise” in persecution of religious people.

“This is important to all faiths in the state of Minnesota,” she said.

Renee Carlson, general counsel for True North Legal, which represents religious groups, has warned lawmakers that the state is inviting a plethora of lawsuits, noting that the “ministerial exception” was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru. The court ruled in 2020 that the government cannot control religious schools’ hiring decisions.

Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, said during the press conference that there’s already an open MDHR investigation against a school over a hiring decision involving gender identity.

On Feb. 29, Niska tried to restore the exemption with an amendment to a MDHR technical bill (SF4292/ HF4021). When he suggested the DFL inadvertently forgot to include the religious exemption last session, committee chair Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, corrected him, saying, “It was not an oversight.”

That led to several passionate, angry exchanges during the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee meeting. Several religious leaders testified in favor of the amendment — including president of the Islamic Center of Minnesota, Zaheer Baber, who said without it, people of faith, including over 200,000 Minnesota Muslims, would be marginalized.

Rep. Brion Curran, DFL-Vadnais Heights, was visibly upset by the testimony, and called it “disgusting,” “infuriating,” “disrespectful” and a direct attack on trans and non-binary people.

“I am appalled that we are having this discussion,” Curran said. “If you don’t believe I am here, who is speaking to you right now? If we’re talking about dignity, where’s the dignity in not recognizing our fellow neighbors?”

Minnesota’s first out trans lawmaker, Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St. Paul, said that the state took big steps toward protecting people’s rights last year — opening its doors as a refuge for transgender people — and said lawmakers aren’t going to allow discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

Finke said religious schools will continue to hire people who align with their beliefs.

“Trans kids are in your schools,” Finke said in an apparent reference to a school leader who testified. “They heard you say they should be legally allowed to discriminate against them.”

Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, said supporters of the amendment were trying to uphold a constitutional right of the faith community to exercise “deeply held beliefs.”

“They’re trying to erase religious freedom,” she said. “This is a pivotal point.”

Becker-Finn said Republicans were trying to re-litigate legislation passed last session and noted that under current state law, religious groups can still discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation. She later chastised Rep. Matt Grossell, R-Clearbrook, for making “snide comments off to the side” while another lawmaker was speaking.

“You do it all the time,” Grossell shot back.

“You don’t get to do this,” Becker-Finn said. “You are not the chair of the committee. I will go to the ethics committee if I need to.”

Niska said it was a simple question of religious freedom and accused the DFL of “totalitarianism.”

“The mask is off,” he said. “Yes, you exist, but your existence does not give you the right to tell other people what they can believe.”

The amendment was defeated 5-8.

The issue arose in the Senate — in the same MDHR technical bill — during a 1 a.m. committee hearing as lawmakers raced to beat a Friday deadline. Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, offered the religious exemption amendment.

Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, told the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee that lawmakers took away the church’s ability to make decisions in accordance with their beliefs.

“Biology is not bigotry, and should not be characterized as such,” Adkins said, calling DFL refusal to act on the issue a “tremendous act of hostility to people of faith.”

The Rev. Fred Hinz, public policy advocate for the Lutheran church-Missouri Synod, which represents about 500 congregations and schools, said they need the ability to choose leaders without government interference. He called the removal of the religious exemption a rejection of religious liberty and a direct attack on the autonomy of the church.

Yusuf Abdulle, executive director of the Islamic Association of North America, also testified in support of Limmer’s amendment, saying Islamic religious institutions will be vulnerable to unjustified interference.

He said in his faith, men and women are spiritual equals but have complementary religious roles: Women cannot lead men in prayer but may lead other women; unrelated men and women cannot be alone in the same room; and women must cover certain areas of their body with headscarves, for example.

If the law required them to ignore gender, “They’d have to choose between obeying the state or God,” Abdulle said.

Sen. Bonnie Westlin, DFL-Plymouth, responded that she, too, is a person of faith, and religious freedom is a deeply held value and protected by the state and federal Constitution. The debate, however, is unrelated to the simple housekeeping MDHR bill she authored, she said.

The amendment failed in the Senate committee, 5-3, along party lines.

Those seeking the religious exemption include the Minnesota Catholic Conference, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Agudath Israel, Islamic Center of Minnesota, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Transform MN—the Evangelical Network, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Association of Christian Schools International, Islamic Association of North America, Minnesota Family Council, True North Legal and the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition.

This story was originally published on MinnesotaReformer.com.