Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit on behalf of a New York woman challenging the state’s Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) as unconstitutional after she was unlawfully fired for refusing to contradict her Christian faith and use incorrect gender pronouns. The lawsuit contends that the Genesee Country Village & Museum, a state-owned entity, targeted the 20-year museum employee for termination because she wouldn’t violate her sincerely held religious beliefs and comply with a Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI) initiative rooted in GENDA, which required her to call a male employee by a female pronoun.
GENDA, a 2019 amendment to the New York’s Human Rights Law and Hate Crimes Act, added gender identity and expression as protected classes in the state.
In Berkemeier v. Genesee Country Museum, Liberty Counsel seeks a permanent injunction that strikes down GENDA by arguing it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments and Title VII. According to the lawsuit, museum administrators cited the New York law when pressuring 64-year-old historical interpreter Deanna Berkemeier to adopt government-imposed values over her religious values to keep her job.
In March 2022, museum administrators implemented sweeping ideological changes through the DEAI initiative, including a pronoun policy, training sessions that promoted racial narratives on America being systemically racist, and an overhaul of the museum’s “legacy staff” and religious “misbelievers” who were unwilling to align with these policies. During this ideologically shift, Berkemeier articulated that using incorrect pronouns would constitute bearing false witness – a contradiction of her biblical belief that God created people male and female. She also explained to museum administrators her religious belief that all people, regardless of skin color, belong to one human race and are of equal value and importance. Berkemeier requested a religious accommodation to abstain from the museum’s DEAI policies since they were impossible to reconcile with her faith.
However, the lawsuit alleges museum administrators ignored this request and fired Berkemeier in August 2022 over a “fundamental disagreement” with her religious beliefs on gender and race. Berkemeier later filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging museum administrators discriminated against her on the basis of religion, race, and retaliation. In October 2024, the EEOC granted her the right to sue the museum on discriminatory grounds.
The lawsuit stated that New York’s GENDA law and the museum’s policies, under the banner of DEAI, placed Berkemeier in an “irresolvable conflict” between compliance with government-imposed beliefs or her sincerely held religious beliefs.
“GENDA, on its face and as applied, constitutes a religious gerrymander by unconstitutionally orphaning sincerely held religious beliefs while permitting the [government’s] more favored nonreligious value systems,” read the lawsuit. “GENDA is unconstitutional in that it would chill and deter persons of ordinary firmness from exercising their constitutional right to express or maintain their religious beliefs [to keep their employment].”
In addition to an injunction against GENDA, Liberty Counsel is seeking Berkemeier’s reinstatement to her position, damages, and backpay.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “People have a constitutional right to live according to their religious beliefs. The religious protections under the First Amendment and Title VII render New York’s Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act unconstitutional. The government does not have the power to compel people to abandon or contradict their faith and New York’s attempt to silence religion should be permanently struck down.”
