The federal appeals court in Atlanta has rejected claims by a former counselor for the CDC who said she was was fired for refusing to advise employees in same-sex relationships because of her religious beliefs.
The court said it accepted Marcia Walden's sincerity that her devout Christian beliefs prohibited her from counseling clients in same-sex relationships. But it found Walden was laid off because her superiors disapproved of the way she referred a lesbian client to another counselor and were concerned how she would handle future referrals.
Walden's lawyer, Byron Babione, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, expressed disappointment with the ruling. "It is unlawful to punish a Christian for abiding by her faith, particularly when she made every effort to accommodate the interests of a potential client," he said. "... We are determining next steps to ultimately vindicate Marcia and the freedoms for which she’s fighting."
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