Religious Discrimination Costs an Ohio County $120K

If American Airlines were looking to hire a new pilot, the most important qualification would be experience flying a plane. After all, someone who has never flown a plane would have neither the knowledge nor the skills necessary to safely transport passengers through the air.

In the same way, Christian ministries need to hire people who hold Christian beliefs and live them out in their own lives. Hiring like-minded employees allows ministries to spread the Gospel more effectively and help others learn about faith in Jesus Christ.

But one county in Ohio penalized a Christian ministry for hiring only those who share its beliefs, harming both the ministry itself and the people it seeks to serve.

Caring for girls in need

Gracehaven is a Christian ministry that provides care to young girls throughout the state of Ohio who are victims or at risk of sexual abuse. Gracehaven operates three residential group homes for these girls and provides services including case management for trafficking and abuse victims, community outreach, and training.

Certified as a “Qualified Residential Treatment Program,” Gracehaven uses a treatment model specially designed to care for girls who have experienced trauma. It provides some of the only homes in Ohio reserved for girls who have been victimized by sex trafficking or abuse.

While most girls live in Gracehaven homes for six to eight months, the ministry often continues caring for them well after they move out of the residential homes. Gracehaven believes true healing comes from the renewed hope and joy that these girls can find in a loving relationship with Jesus Christ, and it relies on its employees and volunteers to help cultivate that relationship.

As Gracehaven explains in its Leadership Standards, “every employee, volunteer, [and] board member, plays an essential and irreplicable role in the accomplishment of [Gracehaven’s] Christian mission.” It stands to reason, then, that each employee must personally believe and follow the core tenets of the Christian faith.

Montgomery County’s religious discrimination

For seven years, Gracehaven contracted with the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services in Montgomery County, Ohio, to place girls in its group homes and to receive funding for foster care services. But when Gracehaven went to renew its contract in 2024, it discovered an employment non-discrimination provision that prohibited the ministry from employing only those who share its Christian beliefs.

Gracehaven signed the agreement but sent a letter to the county explaining that it has a right to screen staff based on religious beliefs and that it does not “unlawfully discriminate” by exercising this right. The ministry explained that it planned to continue hiring only employees who agreed with its Christian mission.

Instead of recognizing Gracehaven’s constitutional rights, the county refused to renew its contract with Gracehaven, prohibiting the ministry from serving children in Montgomery County and from receiving public funds.

The most obvious problem with Montgomery County’s discrimination against Gracehaven is that it violated the First Amendment. Montgomery County was infringing on Gracehaven’s religious freedom by preventing the ministry from receiving county public funds and participating in its foster care system. Gracehaven should not have had to fight a legal battle to simply hire religious people to run a religious nonprofit.

But this discrimination from county officials had additional consequences. Gracehaven is committed to providing vital care for youth sex trafficking survivors in Montgomery County who desperately need a safe and loving home, but county officials were, in effect, denying girls this care by refusing to renew Gracehaven’s contract.

Understanding the need for this care, some lower-level county employees still tried to refer girls to Gracehaven for group home placements. But without a contract with the county, Gracehaven had no way to accept those placements and care for those girls.

Montgomery County agrees to respect Gracehaven’s religious freedom

In December 2024, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a lawsuit against Montgomery County for its unlawful discrimination against Gracehaven. Thankfully, in April 2025, a federal district court stopped the county’s unconstitutional actions while the lawsuit proceeded.

Praise God, in April 2026, ADF attorneys successfully secured a settlement from Montgomery County, which includes the county agreeing to pay $120,000 in attorneys’ fees and agreeing it will not cancel or refuse to enter into any contract with Gracehaven because the ministry employs only individuals who share and live out its religious beliefs and practices.

The bottom line

Every religious organization has the right to hire people who share its faith. The government should never penalize a ministry just because it’s religious.

County officials should never have taken away safe homes from youth sex trafficking victims simply because the officials disliked a ministry’s religiously based hiring. That hurts everyone.

Gracehaven v. Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services

• March 2024: Montgomery County refused to renew its contract with Gracehaven because the ministry hires only those who share its Christian beliefs.
• August 2024: The county doubled down on its religious discrimination and again refused to contract with Gracehaven.
• December 2024: ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit against Montgomery County on Gracehaven’s behalf.
• April 2025: A federal district court ruled that while the lawsuit proceeds, Montgomery County officials may not refuse to contract with or deny funds to Gracehaven because of its religious hiring practices.
• May 2026: Montgomery County officials settled the lawsuit brought by ADF, agreeing to pay $120,000 in attorneys’ fees.