(RNS) — When the Rev. Megan Rohrer was elected bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2021, he was celebrated as the primary brazenly transgender bishop within the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination.
Lower than a yr later, Rohrer was pressured to resign after eradicating a Latino pastor, showing on the pastor’s church in Stockton, California, to announce the termination because the congregation gathered to have fun the Feast of Our Woman of Guadalupe.
Now Rohrer is suing the denomination, claiming he was “scapegoated” and solid as racist for following orders, and charging that Lutheran leaders discriminated in opposition to him.
“This case is in regards to the vital obstacles that LGBTQIA+ people face in office and non secular establishments throughout the nation,” in accordance with the lawsuit filed March 1 within the U.S. District Courtroom for the Northern District of California.
Attorneys advised Faith Information Service that Rohrer is just not commenting presently.
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Rohrer’s election by the members of the Sierra Pacific Synod, primarily based in Oakland, was initially hailed by many within the ELCA. However the go well with alleges denominational leaders demonstrated an absence of acceptance of LGBTQ folks from “actually his first day on the job.”
In a current interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Rohrer stated he had anticipated some discomfort from the management when he first stepped into the position of bishop. However, he stated, “I at all times thought the animus can be hidden higher.”
Rohrer’s go well with stated the previous bishop found an “brazenly hostile” work setting and a “synod in inner turmoil.” The synod had been investigating complaints of abuse in opposition to the pastor in Stockton, the Rev. Nelson Rabell-González, for 2 years by the point Rohrer grew to become bishop.
Rohrer claims he researched the case, consulting with dozens of victims, witnesses and different stakeholders earlier than recommending a rehabilitation plan to Rabell-González. When the pastor rejected the plan, Rohrer terminated his place.
Rohrer delivered the information to congregation Misión Latina Luterana on Dec. 12, 2021, following directions from the presiding bishop of the ELCA, the denomination and the synod council, in accordance with the lawsuit.
The Feast of Our Woman of Guadalupe is a day of big cultural and religious significance to many Latino Christians, and Rabell-González’s congregation was outraged, believing the motion was a “vestige of the Church’s historical past of racial discrimination and colonization,” in accordance with the go well with.
As outcry over what had occurred at Misión Latina Luterana unfold throughout the denomination, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton introduced a three-member listening crew to research. Eaton acquired the crew’s report in early June 2022. Shortly thereafter, she requested Rohrer’s resignation and later, on the listening crew’s urging, made the report public.
The go well with calls the investigation “pretextual” and claims that the report accommodates “quite a few inaccuracies.”
“One factor is true: the Church does have a tragic and totally unjustifiable historical past of colonization and racism, the imprints of which exist to at the present time,” the lawsuit reads.
“Additionally true is that the Church’s therapy of Rohrer as alleged herein, evidences discrimination in opposition to him as a transgender particular person. The Church’s historical past of prejudice far predated Megan Rohrer’s entry into the Church, and the notion he was motivated by racial animus in any personnel choices is an outright falsehood propagated by the Church to deflect blame. It has additionally had the tragic impact of turning marginalized communities in opposition to one another.”
The go well with additionally alleges that leaders of the denomination and the Sierra Pacific Synod “deliberately, repeatedly and publicly” misgendered Rohrer and mocked the ordination of one other transgender pastor as a result of, they stated, drag queens had attended.
The go well with additionally claims Rohrer was fired after he revealed he was being harassed for being transgender. He additionally had reported the synod for violating state and federal labor legal guidelines, and his whistleblowing was one of many denomination’s motivations for eradicating him as bishop, it alleges.
As soon as acknowledged as a “pioneering, brave particular person who broke vital cultural limitations,” the lawsuit reads, Rohrer has now grow to be a “pariah” inside his personal religion neighborhood, receiving dying threats and unable to work as a bishop or pastor in any Lutheran denomination.
“I get messages from folks on a regular basis who say, ‘Your set up as bishop gave me a lot hope, now what do I do?’” Rohrer advised the Chronicle.
“A part of saying my story out loud proper now could be reminding folks, significantly LGBTQ folks, that we are able to proceed to stroll ahead, even when there are setbacks.”
Candice Buchbinder, public relations supervisor for the ELCA, advised RNS that the denomination is conscious of the lawsuit. The ELCA doesn’t consider the go well with has benefit however is not going to remark additional exterior of the court docket, she stated.
The Sierra Pacific Synod didn’t reply to a request for remark from RNS.
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