The Houston Chronicle reports on a conflict between a disabled woman and a local church.
From the story:
Harris County court has ruled that authorities at a Houston church discriminated against a disabled woman when they banned her from worship after she raised concerns about restroom accessibility.
Malaika Adan filed suit in 2010 against Beth Yeshua HaMashiach, a church of about 100 for Jewish and non-Jewish believers, after she was asked not to return to services temporarily after a conflict over the facility's restrooms, court documents show.
A summary judgment signed on Dec. 19 sided with Adan and said that she was banned from the church after she complained and tried to assert her rights as a person with a disability. The church was ordered to pay Adan, who uses a wheelchair, $1,000 in statutory damages and more than $52,000 in attorney's fees.
Adan's attorney, Joseph Berra, with the Texas Civil Rights Project, called the decision a "unique kind of win" because it shows churches are not above the law.
But is it? The Supreme Court has carved out all sorts of exemptions for church when it comes to federal law recently. In Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, they argued that the federal government could not force the church to rehire a woman fired for a disability.
I would not be surprised if we haven't heard the last of this dispute.
