An Ontario pastor who was fired from a Baptist church after coming out as transgender has filed a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal, alleging her termination was spurred by discrimination.
Rev. Junia Joplin presented as male when she first took on the job of lead pastor at Lorne Park Baptist Church in 2014, and continued to do so until she came out to the congregation in a live-streamed sermon in June of last year.
In a statement of claim not yet tested in court, Joplin says she received support from some members of the congregation and other Baptist churches and organizations after her announcement.
However, the claim alleges that in the days that followed, the Mississauga, Ont., church unilaterally suspended her from her duties and gave no date for her return.
The lawsuit alleges Joplin was then subjected to an “unfair process” that saw congregants question her in a series of virtual town halls and, in July 2020, vote to end her employment.
Lorne Park Baptist Church did not immediately respond to request for comment. The church said in a statement last year that Joplin had been fired for “theological reasons.”
In an interview this week, Joplin said her firing, and the way it was carried out, left her with “a kind of anxiety around church work and church life” that she had never felt before.
“Those were very much my first steps into social transition. That’s a hard place to be, I think just about any trans person will tell you that can feel frightening, feel vulnerable. It’s a time when support is is so essential and, unfortunately, for a lot of us we don’t get it in places like our workplace,” she said.
“But for that to happen within that context of a caring community — I think one of the toughest things for me was knowing that I’m going through one of the most consequential and difficult seasons that I’ll ever go through in my life and I’m pretty much isolated from my faith community, from the place that I would most naturally go to for support.”
Joplin said she hopes the lawsuit will help make Canada a more inclusive and safer place for trans people.
“I don’t want other people to go through that, I don’t want other queer people to connect to faith communities that don’t really welcome them unequivocally, without caveat or qualification,” she said.
During her tenure at Lorne Park, Joplin had “pursued a progressive and LGBTQ+ inclusive ministry” with the church’s support, the lawsuit alleges.
As well, the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec, with which Lorne Park Baptist Church is affiliated, has ordained women for more than 70 years, the document says.
In a series of virtual town halls with the congregation, Joplin was asked to answer “difficult and (in many cases) deeply personal” questions regarding her transition, her coming out, and the possible impact of those things on the church and its members, the claim alleges.
She was otherwise instructed not to discuss those matters with the congregation, it says.
Members of the congregation were later asked to vote whether Joplin’s employment, which had previously been for an indefinite term, should be reduced to an 18-month contract or eliminated altogether, the lawsuit alleges.
Those who voted to fire Joplin were then asked to specify whether their choice was based on religious belief, the document says.
Fifty-eight of the 111 voters opted to end her employment, and of those, 50 said it was “fully or in part” due to a religious belief, it says.
The lawsuit, which seeks nearly $200,000 in damages, alleges the church breached the Human Rights Code, whichprohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of gender identity, gender expression, sex and other grounds.
It argues that while the code allows religious organizations to give preference to those of a similar creed, that exemption only applies when creed is a occupational qualification, and it does not allow discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression.
“LPBC did not perform a close and careful examination of the nature and essential duties of lead pastor or demonstrate an honest, good faith, and sincere belief that Rev. Joplin lacked a qualification that was reasonably necessary in relation to those duties,” the claim alleges.
If the court finds the exemption does apply, the lawsuit argues it should be ruled unconstitutional because it “unreasonably and unjustifiably limits the right to equality” enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2021.
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Ones relationship with GOD, is entirely between them and GOD.
One can not claim to Love, Obey and worship GOD and have a character of sinful behavior.
We all must repent from our sins in order to be forgiven for our sins by Jesus Christ, Son of GOD. One Can Not be a disciple of Jesus Christ and follow the ways of Satan.
Lev 20:13
13 “‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
Rom 1:24-27
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Jude 1:7
Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
True. Unfortunately many “churches” have abandoned the Bible in order to fill pews.
When you look at being a pastor as “employment” and the church as “a workplace” it is clear the reason for being there has been lost if was ever understood at all.
Just about every denomination has a few splinter groups that will support anything. Most often those groups have been dismissed from the formal denomination association.
You cannot Proudly live a life that the Bible describes as SIN and be in any position to instruct and guide others in their quest to lead a righteous life, which is a pastor’s main purpose.
“I’m pretty much isolated from my faith community, from the place that I would most naturally go to for support.” ”
You need HELP far more than you need support for your choice.
Good analysis. Gender dysphoria is a mental illness. The practice of sexual aberration is a sin. Pretending to be a woman, when you are, in fact, a man, is a lie, regardless of your “feelings” about it. Gender dysphoria is a fixed delusion, and difficult to treat. However, treatment with medications and counseling can be effective if the person admits to having a mental illness to begin with. Affirming and encouraging any mental illness would be considered malpractice in the medical realm. Society’s affirmation and encouragement of any sexual aberration is an example of people thumbing their nose at science, and God. It will not end well for unbelievers.
Mr Joplin’s issues regarding his employment has resulted in his filing a lawsuit. Nothing is mentioned in this article as to his thoughts regarding his lifestyle as seen through the eyes of God and his relationship and responsibility as a representative of the universal Church body. This is how Liberals do it. Just as they use clinical language when speaking about abortion, they will use legal references in a case such as this to make it appear as God’s law.
Mr Joplin is trying to downplay his standing before God, but that is the greater question he must face. He is answerable to God’s expectations—not just his duties under an employment contract. He is trying to politicize his faith and force God’s hand. Christ said to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and render unto God, the things that are God’s. Mr Joplin is trying to honor one Master at the expense of the other.
He works within a legal framework so far as his employment goes, but his standing before God is first and foremost.
I agree that standing with God has been lost.
However, and this may be nit picking here, I do think that by filing a lawsuit against the church he has made a loud an unavoidable statement about his(?) lifestyle.
He is Proud of it and has taken legal action to allow him to promote it as tolerable and acceptable for a Christian pastor.
Reminds me of the Israelite’s behavior while waiting for Moses to return from the Holy Mountain. There were a lot of them that thought a golden calf was a great idea.
As you noted God does not agree.
Not knowing how the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms actually views freedom concerning religion and worship it’s hard to judge how the courts would see. The question would be are chuches bound to ecclesiastical law or to civil secular law aside from moral law. Our Constitution tells the government to stay out of religion as was affirmed recently but ignored by certain ones in power anyway. This is internal church business because it involves church rules, precedent, and theology out side the purview of secular administrations!
Sometimes you just have to shake your head in disbelief. This man (and anybody) can identify as a women but his DNA is still XY. He’s still a man. You can identify as a watermelon; I don’t care. But that doesn’t mean you are a watermelon; you still a human being. As posted by Max daddy, there must be parishes there that are “woke” (I hope I’m correctly using that term) that would gladly accept this man.
Mr. Joplin is NOT a “she” no matter how he chooses to describe or “present” himself!
He has violated Scripture in so many areas, that he has completely disqualified himself as a God-honoring shepherd of the body of Christ! One who is truly filled with the Holy Spirit would never make all these sinful and ungodly decisions, unless they were never an authentic true believer in the first place.
Taking the church to court violates Scriptural teaching, so that alone would disqualify Mr. Joplin from holding any leadership position in the Church. But intentionally choosing to deceivingly present himself as a woman takes his sin issues to a whole new level. This along with numerous other types of sexual perversions, are a complete abomination to a totally righteous & holy God! Those who practice these evil lifestyles will not escape the punishment of hell, unless they choose to fully repent & turn away from their sinful lifestyle.
I work with small children and my explanation applies to adults as well. “If God made you a boy then God WANTS you to be a boy. If God made you a girl the God WANTS you to be a girl. Boys and girls are a little bit different but God loves everyone the same.”
When the Lord created people, He made male and female then He said it was “very good.” Any deviation from God’s plan is a grievous sin.
Anyone claiming to be a Christian, much less a pastor, should know this simple truth. Thus human is a MAN regardless of HIS claim otherwise. HE is unfit to be / remain a pastor.
Isn’t it amazing that the Bible, inspired by the word of God has been wrong all this time? A book written solely by men seems to not lend credibility according to the self-appointed revisionists. I mean it takes some deep-thinking liberal logic to determine that God was screwed up and that His absence of correcting HIS errors and “poor judgement” over the thousands and thousands of years the document has been in existence is justification in more learn-ed minds to determine what He ACTUALLY meant to say. I guess the self-serving re-write of the supreme being tends to give its new authors a sense of existence and warped purpose.
This pastor decided his personal preferences were more important than the Word of God. His congregation wasn’t comfortable with his desire to pass himself off as a woman. Frankly, if he has such deep psychological issues that he is confused about whether he is a man or a woman he needs to focus on fixing himself before he tries to minister to others.
I remember an old cartoon that depicted two men standing in Hell. one says to the other:
“The thing of it is, it was legal in Amsterdam!”
I thought Canada was shutting all the churches down? Wonder if they shut this one down or arrested “it” for preaching? Hmmmm