Fourth Circuit Presses Catholic Charity on Same-Sex Benefits (1)

A pair of federal appeals court judges questioned a Catholic humanitarian organization on what appeared to be an inconsistency in its decision to hire a gay employee and then refusing to give health benefits to his spouse.

The case provides the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit with an opportunity to weigh-in on whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act shields Catholic Relief Services from discrimination claims stemming from the denial of benefits.

“It seems inconsistent,” Circuit Judge James Andrew Wynn, an Obama appointee, said at oral argument Tuesday. “I mean, if you’re against an individual in this situation ...