In 2021, John Kaempf won a historic first amendment legal victory for his client, the Christian owner of the Miss USA pageant, when a transgender female sued it to be allowed to compete in the pageant.
The case of Anita Green v. Miss USA Pageant involves the attempt by a transgender “female” to participate in the Miss USA pageant. A federal court accepted John Kaempf’s argument that under the freedom of association embodied in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Christian owner of the Miss USA Pageant could not be forced to admit a transgender female into the pageant. The pageant’s preexisting rules state that contestants must be “natural-born females.” Thus, the court dismissed the case as John Kaempf requested.
So, the lesson for churches and religious schools faced with a demand by a transgender person to be admitted to or hired by it, if it opposes the transgender movement, is to politely let such people know that under the First Amendment rights to free speech, free association, and the free exercise of religion, the request is rejected. And a court cannot second-guess that decision.
The author does not mean to come across as pro or anti-anything. The purpose here is to let religious entities know their legal options.
