Christian Anti-Gay Foster Parents Get Civil Rights Suit Revived

Civil rights claims were reinstated against New Jersey employees by a Christian couple who say their foster parenting license was revoked after the state learned that they believe homosexuality is a sin, according to a Third Circuit ruling.

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey shouldn’t have dismissed Michael and Jennifer Lasche’s claims challenging the revocation of their license, the court said. But the judge properly dismissed claims related to a child placement rescinded shortly after their religious beliefs allegedly became a problem, the Third Circuit opinion by Judge Peter J. Phipps said.

The Lasches sued employees of the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency alleging conspiracy and retaliation because of their sincerely held religious beliefs.

Dismissal of the claims as they related to the child placement was appropriate because an intervening decision by a court interfered with the couple showing the cause of the change, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said Tuesday in the unpublished opinion.

But the timing of the revocation of the Lasches’ license with a contentious court hearing during which their religious beliefs were fully aired suggests that the revocation of the license without notice was in retaliation of those beliefs, the court said.

The conspiracy claim against the employees in their individual capacities may also proceed because the Lasches plausibly alleged a violation of their free exercise right and actions taken to further the conspiracy, the court said.

The Lasches alleged that just prior to their license’s revocation they met with the employees and were told that their belief that homosexuality is a sin was a problem, the court said. The Lasches also alleged that the employees thereafter stopped notifying them about court hearings, it said.

The court also revived the Lasches’ claims under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, saying the district court misapplied the state law to their case.

Judges Thomas M. Hardiman and Robert E. Cowen joined the opinion.

Michael P. Laffey of Red Bank, N.J., represented the Lasches. The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office represented the state employees.

The case is Lasche v. New Jersey, 2022 BL 67879, 3d Cir., No. 20-2325, unpublished 3/1/22.