While the word “homelessness” may conjure up an image of the nation’s largest cities, it’s not just the bustling metropolis where homeless people are suffering. It’s happening in cities and towns—small and large—throughout the country.
That’s the case in Yakima, Washington, where one Christian organization has spent more than eight decades serving the homeless and embodying God’s love for them.
But government officials’ new interpretation and enforcement of a Washington law is forcing this organization to hire people who don’t agree with its foundational beliefs—or risk punishment by the state.
Spreading the Gospel in Yakima and beyond
Yakima Union Gospel Mission is a Christian nonprofit that helps people move from homelessness to wholeness. It was founded in 1936 with the goal of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ through its work.
During the 2021-22 fiscal year, the Mission provided shelter for nearly 1,000 people, distributed more than 130,000 meals, and reached over 500 homeless people with its outreach efforts.
More than 85 years after it was established, the Mission continues to serve the Yakima community through its homeless shelter, addiction-recovery programs, outreach efforts, meal services, and medical and dental clinics. And the programs have proven effective: graduates of the Mission’s recovery program are four times more likely to stay sober than they would if participating in traditional detox programs.
Through serving people at its homeless shelters, thrift stores, health clinics, and Good News Café, the Mission has one ultimate goal: to spread the good news of Jesus.
Washington law threatens ministries
In order to fulfill its religious calling and effectively share the Gospel with the people it serves, Yakima Union Gospel Mission must be able to hire those who share and live out its Christian beliefs. While the First Amendment protects this right, Washington law violates it.
The Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) prohibits employers with more than seven employees from considering sexual orientation when making employment decisions. The law used to exempt religious nonprofits like Yakima Union Gospel Mission, allowing these organizations to hire only those who shared and lived out their beliefs. But in March 2021, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that the religious employer exemption applied only to “ministerial employees.”
The court determined that for all other positions, religious nonprofits would be forced to hire people who disagree with, and don’t live out, their religious beliefs—in this case, biblical teaching about marriage and sexuality. The Mission currently has positions open for an IT technician and an operations assistant. Neither of these positions qualifies as “ministerial,” but both are required to live out Christian values, share the Gospel with everyone they meet, serve the homeless with the love of Christ, pray for fellow employees, and disciple one another.
Under the state’s current enforcement of the WLAD, Yakima Union Gospel Mission is forced to hire employees for these positions who do not share or live out its Christian beliefs, on pain of substantial penalties. This undermines the Mission’s ministry work, chills its religious message, threatens its existence, and violates its First Amendment freedoms of religious autonomy, free exercise of religion, and association with like-minded people of faith.
Religious freedom must apply to hiring practices
Yakima Union Gospel Mission has been forced to pause hiring for its IT technician and operations assistant positions because of the WLAD. The law also prohibits the Mission from publishing a religious hiring statement specifying that all employees must live out the Mission’s Christian beliefs.
The state is thus forcing the Mission to change how it operates and is hindering the Mission’s goal of sharing the Gospel and accomplishing its religious calling. If the Mission violates the WLAD, it faces the possibility of lawsuits both from individuals and state officials, as well as other forms of punishment.
Religious organizations must be able to hire employees who share their beliefs. Otherwise, their entire purpose will be undermined.
Two U.S. Supreme Court justices have already agreed: “If States could compel religious organizations to hire employees who fundamentally disagree with them, many religious non-profits would be extinguished from participation in public life—perhaps by those who disagree with their theological views most vigorously.”
In March 2023, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of Yakima Union Gospel Mission asking a federal district court to affirm the Mission’s First Amendment right to hire employees who share its beliefs.
A federal district court dismissed the case, but ADF attorneys appealed that ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. In August 2024, the appeals court reversed the district court’s decision and allowed the Mission’s case to move forward. In October, ADF attorneys returned to the district court for a hearing in the case. The next month, the court ruled that it is likely unconstitutional for Washington state officials to enforce the law against the Mission while the lawsuit proceeds.
Union Gospel Mission of Yakima v. Ferguson
- March 2021: A Washington Supreme Court ruling effectively gutted the WLAD’s exemption for religious employers.
- March 2023: ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of Yakima Union Gospel Mission seeking to protect its right to hire employees who share its beliefs.
- November 2023: After a federal district court dismissed the case, ADF attorneys appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
- July 2024: ADF attorneys participated in oral argument before the 9th Circuit.
- August 2024: The 9th Circuit reversed the lower court’s decision and held that the Mission can challenge Washington’s law.
- October 2024: ADF attorneys participated in a hearing at the district court on the Mission’s request for an injunction.
- November 2024: The federal district court ruled that it is likely unconstitutional for Washington state officials to enforce the law against the Mission while the lawsuit proceeds.
