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ACLU to Argue in Federal Appeals Court on Behalf of Transgender Employee Fired from Funeral Home

BY BTL STAFF

The ACLU will be in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio on Wednesday for arguments in the case of Aimee Stephens – a funeral director who was fired from her job after she told her employer that she would begin presenting as a woman because she is transgender.
The ACLU and ACLU of Michigan intervened on behalf of Stephens in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's lawsuit against Detroit-based RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes earlier this year.
The funeral home has argued that they were entitled to fire Stephens in accordance with the owner's religious beliefs. Its arguments echo those made in cases across the country in which religious beliefs are cited to justify discrimination, including an ACLU case currently at the U.S. Supreme Court concerning a same-sex couple that was refused service at a Colorado bakery when seeking a cake for their wedding reception.

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