Two flight attendants who were terminated by Alaska Airlines are filing a lawsuit alleging religious discrimination in connection to the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mandate.

Marli Brown and Lacey Smith, who are both Christian, brought up their faith during the DEI training for the company and paid a high price for it. Now they are calling for religious liberty in the workplace.

“Smith spoke with Fox News Digital about why she believes her termination by Alaska Airlines was motivated by religious discrimination. During the interview, she was accompanied by Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute (FLI), who is representing her in a lawsuit against Alaska Airlines that they filed in May 2022,” Fox News Digital reported.

“I went to access my schedule in the morning … I saw that Alaska had posted an article that just said Alaska supports the Equality Act,” Smith recounted in an interview on Friday with the media outlet.

“There are a lot of different religious people who had issues with the Equality Act. And I guess I just had some questions with Alaska in terms of what that meant when they said things like, ‘Alaska supports the Equality Act’ … What does that mean for me?” she asked.

(Video Credit: Fox News Digital)

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) originally introduced the Equality Act. The legislation sought to protect sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, and other areas under federal civil rights law. It passed the House in February 2021.

“Her comments to Fox News Digital came after FLI and the Ard Law Group on Wednesday filed a motion for summary judgment on behalf of Smith and Brown after they sued Alaska Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), a union for flight attendants, in May 2022,” Fox News Digital noted.

“FLI and Ard Law Group alleged that the airline terminated them because they ‘asked questions in a company forum about the company’s support for the Equality Act’ and that the AFA ‘failed to adequately defend them,'” the media outlet added.

All of this has to do with the company’s intense push for DEI while allegedly attempting to silence Christians who are concerned with its morality.

This is Alaska airlines. Imagine your pilot being hired based on DEI system. pic.twitter.com/mHAtxkgUAs

— I Meme Therefore I Am (@ImMeme0) January 11, 2024

“At the time, it’s important to look at the context that this is taking place when Alaska Airlines had a major DEI push where they were encouraging their employees to have courageous conversations with each other about and ask difficult questions and share their diverse perspectives,” Taub explained while speaking with Fox News Digitial.

“And so that’s why it’s pretty shocking when we have a couple of Christian flight attendants that were sharing their perspectives and were fired,” she asserted.

Smith believes that Alaska Airlines didn’t stop to consider how the bill would affect her at work due to her “traditional Christian views on sexual morality: male and female, all of that.”

She also pointed out that the bill is extremely confusing.

“I wanted to know what that meant for me as an employee with Alaska Airlines supporting the Equality Act,” she elaborated.

We took an important step forward in our Alaska Airlines case involving two Christian flight attendants who were fired for their religious beliefs. The recent motion presents a vast amount of evidence revealing the company’s discrimination. #AlaskaAir pic.twitter.com/i05y6I95MF

— First Liberty Institute (@1stLiberty) January 19, 2024

Brown asked if Alaska Airlines supported “endangering the Church, encouraging suppression of religious freedom, obliterating women’s rights and parental rights.”

She warned that the legislation would force “every American to agree with controversial government-imposed ideology or be treated as an outlaw,” while “demolishing existing civil rights and Constitutional freedoms,” which are protected under the Civil Rights Act.

“Brown claimed that the Equality Act would endanger the safety and privacy of girls and women, including shower and locker room facilities, female-only shelters, and prisons,” Fox News Digitial wrote.

“As a company, do you think it’s possible to regulate morality?” Smith asked the airline. That was the question that allegedly got her fired.

“Supporting the Equality Act is not about regulating morality. It’s about supporting laws that allow our LGBTQ+ employees and guests, no matter what state they live in or fly to, to be protected against discrimination,” Alaska Airlines Senior VP of People, Andy Schneider, responded.

We need your prayers as we enter the New Year and are grateful for your support in 2023. Thanks to your support, we have accomplished so much but the fight is not over yet. #2023 #ReligiousFreedom #NewYear pic.twitter.com/RUGWOcmg5e

— First Liberty Institute (@1stLiberty) January 1, 2024

“That was the first conversation that I had with Alaska that they posted back. And then shortly after they took that down, deleted the comment, and then they told me that they were calling me in for something that I had posted online,” Smith stated.

After that, the airline attendant noticed all her trips were canceled.

FLI claimed they had Brown and Smith’s comments were removed for being “discriminatory,” “hateful” and “offensive.” They were suspended from flight shifts pending an investigation and were eventually terminated.

“Benjamin Franklin equates ignorance with tyranny. And I think unfortunately, currently in 2024 and obviously 2021, etc., there’s a lot of people who are ignorant to their freedom and protection from religious discrimination in the workplace,” Smith remarked to Fox News Digital.

“I don’t know how we got here as a nation to where somebody can’t bring up their own questions about morality without losing their job. But that’s where we’re at,” she concluded.

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