Iowa man tells Eighth Circuit he was fired because of his anti-LGBTQ views

DES MOINES, Iowa (CN) — An Iowa man told an Eighth Circuit panel Tuesday that he was wrongly fired because he expressed his religious belief that his employer’s use of a rainbow flag as symbol of LGBTQ pride is an “abomination to God.”

Snyder was fired after he posted a comment on his employer’s intranet site opposing the company’s use of the rainbow flag to symbolize support for LGBTQ rights. According to his religious beliefs he sees the rainbow is a symbol of God’s covenant with man and that the company's use of it is sacrilegious.

An Eighth Circuit panel heard arguments in Snyder’s appeal of a lower court's summary judgment ruling in favor of his employer, Arconic Corp. Snyder argued his firing violated Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

“As part of Snyder’s Christian faith, he believes the rainbow is a Judeo-Christian symbol of the scriptural covenant between God and His people, dating back to the time of Noah and the Old Testament Book of Genesis,” Snyder argued in his appellate brief. “He also believes, as part of his sincerely held Christian faith, that the Bible teaches marriage is between one man and one woman.”

The company in its reply brief said Snyder’s comments were offensive to other employees. “Snyder voluntarily posted harassing comments denigrating a protected class on the company intranet in violation of Arconic policies and the law prohibiting harassment in the workplace. His termination was based on such conduct.”

During Tuesday’s oral argument, Michael McHale, an Omaha attorney with the Thomas More Society representing Snyder, was asked by U.S. Circuit Judge Jane Kelly why Snyder's comment related to the rainbow could not be considered offensive to some employees.

“We’re talking about a statement about the rainbow,” Kelly, a Barack Obama appointee, said. “If it just said, ‘This is my belief about the rainbow and I disagree with how it’s being used’ . . .  but he adds the part about the abomination of God. That is the part that the company believed was a violation of their policy.”

McHale said Snyder was just responding to a company survey, which he believed was anonymous, and the statement he posted reflected his sincere religious belief.

That prompted another question from the court: “Does that give an employee license to insult other employees? Many Christians believe that only Christians will be saved and that Jews and Muslims and nonbelievers won’t be saved. Can you go out on a public bulletin board and say that all Jews and Muslims in this company are going to hell?”

McHale responded by saying, “We’re not asking for a categorical right to [offend] co-workers.”

Snyder acknowledged making an offensive comment on the company intranet, according to Mikkie Schiltz of the Davenport, Iowa, firm Lane & Waterman, representing Arconic. “There is no law or Supreme Court precedent that directs employers to excuse employees from making offensive comments in the workplace, even when they are based on religion,” she told the judges.

Schiltz was asked by another member of the panel whether just stating his opposition to the company’s use of the rainbow would be deemed offensive.

“If he had said, ‘I don’t believe a rainbow should be used like this,’ I don’t know if that would be an offense,” she said., “But when he’s saying you’re an abomination to God, you are hateful and you are sinful and you shouldn’t use a rainbow, that is admittedly an offensive statement, and just because it is based on his religion the employer does not have to excuse that.”

U.S. Circuit Judges Raymond Gruender and Michael Melloy, both George W. Bush appointees, rounded out the panel. The court did not say when a ruling would be issued.

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