Judge Orders Southwest Attorneys to Get “Religious Liberty Training” From Avowed Anti-LGBTQ Hate Group

In an unusual move August 8, a Texas judge ordered three Southwest Airlines attorneys to eight hours of training with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled a hate group, specifically against the LGBTQ+ community.

ADF, begun by about 30 Christian right leaders identifies itself as a legal advocacy and training group. It focuses on criminalizing sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults here and abroad; has justified sterilization of trans people globally where it is state-sanctioned; has spread the myth that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia than straight people; and makes a claim that a “homosexual agenda” will destroy Christianity and society.

ADF also aims to reduce the rights of LGBTQ people and also played a central role in overturning Roe v. Wade.  U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr’s mandating of the three attorneys came in response to what he said was Southwest Airlines taking liberties with his original ruling in a case the airline lost to flight attendant Charlene Carter who had been fired for sending anti-abortion messages to the president of her union.

After a Dallas jury found that Southwest had violated Carter’s right to religious speech, awarding her $800,000 and reinstating her job, the judge ordered Southwest to tell flight attendants that under federal law, it “may not discriminate against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs.”

The airline instead informed its employees that it “does not discriminate” on religious beliefs, and cautioned telling flight attendants to heed the policy that it cited in terminating Carter.

Starr ruled that the airline “didn’t come close to complying with the Court’s order, and ordered Southwest to publish a verbatim statement declaring that it may not discriminate against flight attendants for religious beliefs “including — but not limited” to abortion.

In ordering the attorneys to “religious liberty training,” Judge Starr called ADF one of a number of “esteemed non-profit organizations that are dedicated to preserving free speech and religious freedom.”

Reactions from legal professionals varied from shock to confusion. The ADF, while being a legal advocacy group, was in no way connected to the Southwest Airlines case, making the judge’s decision to involve the extremist group a random one at best.

The Washington, D.C. watchdog group Accountable.US tweeted, “This is a new low for our federal judiciary.”

And Mark Joseph Stern, a legal analyst for Slate, said, “This is pretty frightening… If upheld, Trump Judge Brantley Starr’s order would let courts force lawyers to undergo religious indoctrination sessions from an extremist group that may well contradict their own deeply held spiritual beliefs and freedom of speech. This cannot possibly be legal.”