Catholic group calls lesbians' suit vs. Harrison hospital an attack on religious liberty
Written by Ned P. Rauch
The New York State Catholic Conference has called a lesbian couple's class-action lawsuit against St. Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers an attempt "to compel the hospital (and all Catholic employers) to violate their religious beliefs."
The couple, who live in Westchester County, filed the lawsuit anonymously in federal court in Manhattan this week. They claimed St. Joseph's, which runs St. Vincent's Hospital in Harrison, where one of the women works, and its insurance provider discriminated against them by refusing them the same health benefits offered to other employees and their families.
After the couple married in late 2011, the employee's spouse was denied health coverage commonly available to heterosexual spouses of hospital workers. When the couple appealed the decision, the hospital's insurance provider, Empire BlueCross BlueShield, wrote, "same sex spouse and domestic partner is an exclusion under the benefit."
The medical center is a Roman Catholic organization; the Catholic Church opposes same-sex marriage.
In a statement issued today, the Catholic Conference framed the couple's lawsuit and New York's legalization of same-sex marriages as an undermining of the separation of church and state. It put quotation marks around the word married in describing the couple's relationship and said the Marriage Equality Act infringes "on the religious liberty of Catholic employers."
"We urge the governor and the legislature to pass legislation immediately to approve a full religious exemption to this ill-conceived law," the group said. "We also continue to urge other states to use New York's experience as a cautionary reminder of the true implications of the redefinition of marriage on religious liberty."
Attorney Jeffrey Norton, who represents the women, said Catholic institutions should have to "meet the same standards as any other employer in the state."
"This isn't an attack on religious freedoms as much as it is an effort to enforce the laws uniformly in a non-discriminatory manner across the state," he said.
A spokesman at St. Joseph's said the hospital would not comment on the lawsuit or the issue of same-sex marriage.
The lawsuit's filing coincides with the release of a new book by Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
In an excerpt of "True Freedom: On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Liberty," released by the Archdiocese of New York, Dolan writes of a "rampant disregard for religious beliefs" with the approval of, among other things, "a redefinition of marriage by many of our leading political figures."
(published 6/21/12)
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Inquiries about the case may be directed to Newman Ferrara attorney, Jeffrey Norton, at 212-619-5400.