9th Circuit Revived a Religious Discrimination Suit Against Alaska Airlines
A federal appeals court with three Trump-appointed judges reversed a lower court ruling on July 2, 2026, allowing two Alaska Airlines flight attendants to sue the airline for religious discrimination. The women were fired in 2022 after posting anti-LGBTQ+ statements on the company’s internal message board.
The posts appeared after Alaska Airlines announced its support for the Equality Act, federal legislation that would extend civil rights protections to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. Lacey Smith wrote questioning whether a company could “regulate morality.” Marli Brown claimed the Equality Act would infringe on women’s rights and was “endangering the Church.” Alaska Airlines deleted both posts and later fired both employees after an investigation found they had violated the company’s anti-discrimination and harassment policy.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle dismissed the suit in 2022, ruling that the posts were not religious in nature and therefore the firings were not discriminatory. The 9th Circuit reversed that decision.
“It did not matter whether Brown could support her post with chapter and verse from an authoritative religious text.”
Circuit Judge Daniel Bress, writing for the 9th Circuit panel, July 2, 2026
The ruling sends the case back to the lower court, where it can proceed toward trial. Alaska Airlines has maintained that religious beliefs were not the basis for the terminations.
The plaintiffs are represented by First Liberty Institute, a Texas-based legal organization that argues religious liberty claims in federal court. The group has won several recent cases expanding the right of religious objectors to decline services or duties related to same-sex couples.
The ruling signals how a judiciary reshaped by Trump appointments may interpret the boundary between religious freedom claims and workplace anti-discrimination protections. A decision allowing this suit to advance does not determine the case’s outcome, but it does establish that courts must treat anti-LGBTQ+ statements tied to religious belief as potentially protected expression under Title VII.
LGBTQ+ workers have no federal statutory protection from employment discrimination in most states. The Equality Act, which would change that, has not passed the Senate.
What You Can Do Now
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Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to co-sponsor and bring the Equality Act to a vote. Federal employment protections for LGBTQ+ workers do not exist in statute, and this case shows why that gap matters.
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Contact Alaska Airlines directly at 1 (800) 252-7522 and tell them you are watching the case and support the company’s stated commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace.
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Find your state’s employment non-discrimination law using the Movement Advancement Project’s policy tracker. If your state lacks workplace protections, contact your state legislators and ask them to introduce or support an employment non-discrimination bill.
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Track the case (Smith v. Alaska Airlines, 9th Circuit No. 23-35174) through CourtListener to monitor lower court proceedings as the suit moves forward.
Sources
LGBTQ Nation: Trump Judges Allow Christians to Sue Alaska Airlines for Anti-LGBTQ+ Statements
Reuters: Alaska Airlines Religious Discrimination Lawsuit Revived by Appeals Court
First Liberty Institute: About Our Religious Freedom Litigation
Movement Advancement Project: Non-Discrimination Laws by State
Congress.gov: The Equality Act, H.R. 5, 117th Congress