Earlier this year, the Catholic Radio Association petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to retract a nonbinary option in reporting about employees’ gender. The petitioners argue that being forced to include nonbinary as an option compels speech that contradicts the broadcasters’ religious beliefs and would “advance the interests of the LGBTQ lobby.” InsideRadio reported:
“The Catholic broadcasters say because FCC licensing authority is at the root of the requirement, and there is no exemption offered to broadcasters that object to a non-binary option, it amounts to a government ‘coercion’ or ‘chilling of expression’ that runs afoul with previous religious freedom rulings from the Supreme Court.
“Not only does that represent an infringement on First Amendment rights, they say, but also the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which bars federal agencies from substantially burdening religious exercise. ‘Placing religious broadcasters squarely between a proverbial “rock and a hard place” constitutes a complicity-based objection to a substantial burden on religious liberties,’ the broadcasters argue.”
In February, the FCC reinstated previous reporting requirements about the race, ethnicity, and gender of broadcasters’ employees, as part of “critical information” collection to help “analysis and understanding of the broadcast industry workforce.” The FCC cited non-discrimination protections as its basis, noting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other federal agencies include a nonbinary gender option in their data. During a public comment period before the requirement was reinstated, none of the Catholic broadcasters or anyone else had raised objections.
Other Christian broadcasters and conservative groups have joined the Catholic Radio Association in objecting to the FCC’s regulation. The National Religious Broadcasters and the American Family Association has asked a federal appeals court to block the FCC regulation, arguing it is “arbitrary and capricious” and “an abuse of discretion.”
The Catholic radio stations involved with the complaint include Archangel Communications, Archbishop of Archdiocese of Agana, Atlanta Catholic Radio, BVM Helping Hands, Catholic Community Radio, Catholic Radio Network, Christendom College, Divine Mercy Apostolate, Evangelist Communications, Holy Family Communications (NY), J.M.J. Radio, Mary’s Children, RED-C Apostolate, Saint Gabriel Communications, St. Gabriel Radio, Saint Joseph Missions, St. Paul Radio, St. Peter the Rock Media, and Salt & Light Radio.
FCC officials who voted to reinstate collecting information on nonbinary employees argued it is simply a matter of good governance. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks explained that collecting employee data dates to the 1970s and has been affirmed in law by Congress. Starks continued in a statement that the question of employment data is not just for workers, but communities served by media outlets:
“Some might pretend that what we do today is a radical break outside of this agency’s authority. It is not. Quite simply, today we reinstate a longstanding, statutorily-mandated requirement to collect workforce diversity data from broadcasters.
“We know how critical it is to have diversity in our media organizations. It’s clear – a successful media organization serves its viewers, listeners, and readers. . .Certainly, individual employees and candidates are harmed by a hostile work environment. But whole communities are harmed when they are subjected to content that lacks balance, fairness, or accuracy.”
Starks added that collecting the data about gender, which is publicly available, will help ensure there is transparency and accountability today.
The Catholic Radio Association’s dispute with the Federal Communications Commission is just one of several complaints and lawsuits church-affiliated groups have filed against government efforts to stop anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. Three examples occurred just during the past year. In Michigan, a Catholic Charities affiliate has joined Catholic therapists in seeking to overturn the state’s ban on conversion therapy. In Colorado, the Archdiocese of Denver and two parishes have sued to stop LGBTQ+ non-discrimination protections in state eduction funding. And the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has consistently filed objections to federal initiatives in healthcare, education, and social services aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ youth, unhoused people, and others.
During Pride Month in June, two leaders with the U.S. bishops conference, Winona-Rochester’s Bishop Robert Barron, as chair of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and Fort Wayne-South Bend’s Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, as chair of the Committee for Religious Liberty, wrote in Our Sunday Visitor against the “new rights” federal agencies are supposedly trying to impose by “enshrining gender ideology in law.”
In their op-ed, Bishops Barron and Rhoades claim that it is a Catholic belief in every person’s innate dignity which “underpins all our charitable services. . .But this same principle of human dignity is also what animates” their opposition to equal rights for LGBTQ+ people and women.
For all the good work Catholic organizations do in housing migrants, providing media coverage, teaching children, and caring for patients, that work is severely undercut when it becomes a cudgel used against other marginalized groups. No one’s dignity can be upheld on the back of another person’s denigration. Filling out an employment data form that includes a nonbinary gender option is a simple and common sense measure to improve society, not a threat to religious liberty.
Where once Catholic organizations in the U.S. were known largely for their charitable works, today some of the biggest headlines these organizations garner are for the plethora of complaints and lawsuits they file against LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights. The present course of so many church leaders and organizations is loss for everyone - the marginalized, the church, and the common good alike.