Liberty University Faces Lawsuit From Employee Over Discrimination

Leequan McLaurin, a Black, gay Christian who worked for Liberty University from July 2018 to June 2020, is suing the company for sexual discrimination, retaliation, and racial discrimination.

According to ABC 13 News, the lawsuit alleges multiple instances of discrimination against McLaurin by his supervisor, stating that he:

• “Yelled at him for not sharing his interpretation of Christianity that condemned homosexuality.” Also that his supervisor pressured him into giving this information up because, according to 10 news, “(he) was (his) boss, and you have to tell me.”
• “Demanded that he profess an understanding that God hates LGBTQIA+ people.”
• “Yelled at him because Mr. McLaurin refused to define his personal religious beliefs.”

Also according to 10 news, there was an incident where his boss said that “ LGBTQIA+ community should be happy that Liberty ‘allowed’ them to be there.”

McLaurin was allegedly harassed and pushed to share his beliefs outside of a context in which he was comfortable. When he shared these beliefs, he was wrongfully reprimanded and told to be thankful that Liberty University “allowed” LGBTQ students. Accoridng to them, when McLaurin professionally declined to answer, the supervisor “became irate and began yelling that God actually detests and abhors certain people.”

“I think they count on that: people being too afraid to speak truth to power to call them out on what they’re doing,” McLaurin says, “and so I’m hoping that me not being silent and calling them out for what they’ve done, that they see that they’re not some invincible force that can just do whatever they want.”

Also according to them, Liberty University has something of a history of controversies such as this. The college itself was founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr., who was a Southern Baptist pastor, beholding such beliefs as AIDS being “God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”

Falwell also apparently, according to Politico, poured millions of school funds into Trump advertisements telling Americans to “pray for our president.” Needless to say, the school has no short history of intolerance, and this sentiment apparently spread into the rest of the staff.

McLaurin was constructively discharged on the June 2, 2020. He asks for a trial by jury and compensation for missed pay, benefits, and other losses, not specifying an amount. McLaurin also wishes for discrimination courses to prevent as many scenarios like this as possible.