Minnesota Court of Appeals uses ‘religious freedom’ to justify firing of secular transgender librarian

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 2025

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Gender Justice calls ruling an overly broad interpretation of the Federal Constitution and vows to keep fighting for fairness

Minneapolis, Minn.—

Today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals issued a ruling in Reyzl Grace v. Academy of Holy Angels & the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, affirming dismissal of the case against the Archdiocese following oral arguments on September 16.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the Archdiocese from the case based on the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Court of Appeals determined that a church has free reign to fire any employee, even one who performs no religious functions, if that employee does not abide by the religious beliefs of the employer.

Although the ruling is limited to religious institutions such as churches, it is overly broad in that it allows such institutions free reign to fire any employee, including maintenance workers, administrative assistants, and others who play a secular role, for failing to abide by any religious principle of the church. “Religious freedom was never intended to give religious institutions, acting as employers, a blanket license to discriminate against secular employees. We will continue fighting to make sure the law protects everyone, regardless of who they are or where they work,” said Jess Braverman, Legal Director at Gender Justice.

Gender Justice, which represents Reyzl Grace alongside co-counsel Wanta Thome PLC, strongly disagrees with the court’s interpretation and is considering next steps. The case against the Academy of Holy Angels was not part of this appeal and is still ongoing.

Background
In August 2024, Gender Justice and Wanta Thome PLC filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Academy of Holy Angels, a Catholic high school in Richfield, Minnesota, and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis after the school effectively terminated Reyzl Grace MoChridhe (Grace), a secular staff librarian, when she came out as transgender.

The lawsuit alleges that Holy Angels and the Archdiocese violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) in 2022 by refusing to renew Grace’s employment contract because of her transgender status and sex. Grace’s role as a librarian was secular, not ministerial. While the MHRA includes narrow religious exemptions, the Legislature never intended those exemptions to apply to non-ministerial employees performing secular work.

Learn more about this case.

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