More than a year after a court ruling opened a loophole in state laws meant to protect employees against discrimination, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is asking a federal court to allow the entity to consider religion when making employment decisions.

A man who worked at Catholic Relief Services had sued his employer in 2020 for refusing to provide health benefits for his husband, citing discrimination. But in August 2023, the state’s highest court ruled that the Maryland Equal Pay for Equal Work Act does not include specific language that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Fair Employment Practices Act does, but it exempts certain religious organizations to make employment decisions based on sexual orientation.

Back then, LGBTQ community advocates voiced concerns over a possible loophole. Now, if the court sides with the church, entities could hire, and fire based on sexual orientation.

Lawyers for the Seventh-day Adventist Church argued in a complaint that the First Amendment allows churches and affiliated religious organizations to ask its employees to “uphold their religious beliefs, to support their religious mission and to strengthen their community of believers.” Under federal law, the complaint reads, states and civil courts are not to interfere with the autonomy of churches.

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The church wants to be able to hire and terminate employees based on the religious organization’s beliefs, so its employees are “mission-aligned,” according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. As part of the church’s mission, employees cannot smoke, drink alcohol or take up on “immoral conduct,” including “adultery and homosexual practices.”

The church is also asking the court to prevent the state from investigating allegations against the church, including those related to posting advertising for job openings with the requirement that the employees uphold the church’s beliefs, asking in interviews and the workplace whether the employee is upholding those beliefs.

The church is suing the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights and Attorney General Anthony Brown.

The Baltimore Banner has reached out to the Maryland attorney general for comment.