Attending a Church Dinner in Massachusetts? Watch Thy Pronouns https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/religion-holidays/2016/09/attending-a-church-dinner-in-massachusetts-watch-thy-pronouns/

September 12, 2016 | Eugene Volokh
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At the beginning of this month, a Massachusetts commission issued its official “Gender Identity Guidance.” The document, which explains state regulations prohibiting sex-based “discrimination,” notes that the laws apply to public accommodations—and that “a church could be seen as a place of public accommodation if it holds a secular event, such as a spaghetti supper, that is open to the general public.” Eugene Volokh comments:

Now, churches hold events “open to the general public” all the time—it’s often how they seek new converts. And even church “secular events,” which I take to mean events that don’t involve overt worship, are generally viewed by a church as part of its ministry, and certainly as a means for a church to model what it believes to be religiously sound behavior.

My guess is that most churches would not turn someone away from a generally open spaghetti supper. . . . But some religious leaders, as well as the church employees and volunteers, may refuse to use pronouns that they believe are inconsistent with God’s plan as revealed by anatomy. . . .

Under Massachusetts law, refusing to use a transgender person’s preferred pronoun would be punishable discrimination. . . . Indeed, a church might be liable even for statements by its congregants (and not just its volunteers, who are acting as agents) that are critical of transgender people. Tolerating such remarks is generally seen as allowing a “hostile environment,” and therefore “harassment.” . . .

[In other words], once they open their doors for “secular events,” church leaders have to use the words that the law requires, even when they view them as false or even blasphemous, and have to suppress offensive speech by their congregants.

Read more on Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/09/08/massachusetts-churches-may-be-covered-by-transgender-discrimination-bans-as-to-secular-events