Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is facing multiple lawsuits alleging he violated religious freedom during his term as governor of Minnesota.
Walz has faced legal challenges after religious groups argued the lockdown policies were discriminatory because they placed stricter requirements on churches than on businesses, and he also faced backlash after signing legislation that stripped religious schools of funding for a program that offers free college credits to high school students.
Waltz Decided Presidential Decree of May 13, 2020 Retail company The state government allowed churches to reopen at 50% capacity but limited the number of people at religious gatherings to 10. After Catholic and Lutheran churches in the state announced plans to resume in-person gatherings despite the governor's orders, the governor negotiated to allow religious organizations to operate at 25% capacity. according to In the Star Tribune.
The two churches moved forward Waltz settled the discriminatory treatment lawsuit in May 2021 after the state's motion to dismiss the case was denied. agree Treat religious gatherings the same as “secular businesses, the least restrictive of which are regulated by religious orders.”
The three churches supported by the Thomas More Society were: Litigation In August 2020, they argued that Governor Walz was infringing on residents' religious freedom by requiring masks, limiting capacity, and enforcing social distancing.
“Governor Walz, a former teacher, gets an F on religious freedom,” Eric Cardal, special counsel to the Thomas More Society, said in a press release at the time.
BREAKING: The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will not follow Governor Walz's new guidelines limiting attendance inside and outside churches to 10. The letter to parishes across the state was signed by Archbishop Hebda and all six of the state's bishops. https://t.co/PyzFIorMed
— Tom Hauser (@thauserkstp) May 20, 2020
The Minnesota Supreme Court in May upheld Governor Walz's peacetime emergency declaration in response to COVID-19. according to to the Upper Midwest Law Center. (Related article: Vice Presidential candidate Harris endorses bill allowing states to take away custody of children from parents who oppose gender reassignment surgery)
Waltz also Litigation The Minnesota governor dismissed the lawsuit in May 2023 after signing a law that bars schools that require a confession of faith from receiving funding from Minnesota's Postsecondary Entrance Options (PSEO) program, which allows high school students to earn college credits for free. Minnesota agreed not to enforce the law while the lawsuit is ongoing.
Beckett Senior Advisor Diana Thomson It is called The state's decision to exclude religious schools is “clearly anti-religious.”
Waltz is sign An Act clarifying religious exemptions in the Minnesota Human Rights Act. discrimination Republicans pushed the bill after the state Legislature in May added “gender identity” as a protected category, alongside categories such as race, religion, sex and sexual orientation, but did not add a religious exemption. according to To the Minnesota Reformers.
In April 2023, Waltz invoice He passed a law banning “conversion therapy,” defined as any practice aimed at “changing an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity” in patients under the age of 18. Signed A bill to make Minnesota a “trans refugee” state To give permission If a child “is unable to receive gender-affirming medical care,” state courts would assume “temporary emergency jurisdiction.”
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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