Bangor-area Pines Church is suing the Hermon School Department, alleging that the school board discriminated against the church on the basis of its religious beliefs when it denied the church’s request to lease the high school auditorium for Sunday services.
The lawsuit claims that the Hermon School Committee denied the church’s lease proposal because of the church’s religious beliefs on abortion, sexual orientation, gender reassignment care, conversion therapy, and gay marriage.
[RELATED: Email Shows Hermon School Board Member Discriminated Against Christian Church Over Religious Views]
After the non-denominational Christian Pines Church outgrew its Sunday service meeting space at Spotlight Cinema in Orono, in September of last year head pastor Matt Gioia looked into moving the church to Hermon for a larger rental space.
Gioia then contacted Hermon Superintendent Micah Grant to negotiate a potential rental agreement for Hermon High School’s theater.
The negotiations seemed to be going well at first—Gioia met with Grant multiple times through October to discuss leasing the High School’s theater, and was taken by Grant on tours of the school facilities.
On Nov. 7, 2022, on the request of Superintendent Grant, Gioia presented the Pines Church’s proposal to the Hermon School Committee for leasing space at Hermon High School.
In his presentation, Gioia explained that the church would bring its own sound equipment, and would set up, break down and clean up after services.
Gioia also offered to pay the Hermon School Department $1,000 rent per month for the lease, $400 more than the Department’s proposed monthly rental payment.
Following Gioia’s presentation, on Nov. 8 Hermon School Committee member Chris McLaughlin sent an email to the Superintendent inquiring about the Pines Church’s position on same-sex marriage, abortion, gender-affirming medical care, conversion therapy for LGBTQ individuals, and sex education for youth.
McLaughlin wrote that he wanted to get a better sense of how the church approaches “key issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” and their messaging regarding “issues relevant to marginalized communities.”
“Is the Pines Church receptive of same-sex marriages? Do they consider marriage only to be between 1 man and 1 woman?” He asked.
The Pines Church states in their lawsuit that they maintain “biblically orthodox religious beliefs and practices regarding human sexuality, marriage, and abortion, as most Christian churches have faithfully maintained for the past two thousand years.”
See Hermon School Committee Member Chris McLaughlin’s November 8 email to Superintendent Micah Grant below:
McLaughlin, who is a licensed social worker and adjunct professor at the University of Maine School of Social Work, was the only school board member to vote against offering the Pines Church a month-to-month lease for the high school space.
He is also the owner of a consulting firm that offers diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting services to several Maine schools.
The church’s lawsuit states that the “implications of the Committee’s questions are clear, unless [The Pines Church] affirms [Hermon School Department’s] religious and political beliefs, the Committee will not support [The Pines Church’s] lease proposal.”
Chris McLaughlin and Superintendent Micah Grant did not immediately respond for comment on the Pines Church’s lawsuit and the Nov. 8 email.
The lawsuit also claims that the Hermon School Committee’s question were “inappropriate and not germane” to the church’s lease proposal, and that the Committee has not asked these questions to secular entities that have leased its facilities.
“Public institutions that seek to lease their facilities for revenue should not be able to discriminate based on religious or political conviction,” said Mariah Gondeiro, vice president and legal counsel of Advocates For Faith & Freedom, the law firm representing the Pines Church, in a press release to The Daily Signal.
At follow up meetings, the Committee raised various concerns about the church’s lease proposal.
According to the lawsuit, in one Committee meeting Hermon High School Principal Brian Walsh stated that associating with the Pines Church would create a negative public image, and that the church’s religious and political beliefs “do not align with the [Hermon School Department’s] mission.”
Principal Walsh did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his statements during the Committee meeting.
While the Committee offered the church a month-to-month lease of Hermon High School, they denied Gioia’s request for a six-month or yearlong lease of the facilities.
Gioia previously relayed to Superintendent Grant that a month-to-month lease would not be feasible for the church due to its need for stability.
The lawsuit alleges that the Pines Church has suffered damages as a result of the Committee’s denial of their lease proposal due to the church being unable to find a meeting space to accommodate its growing congregation.
“[The Hermon School Department’s] denial of a long-term lease to the Church sends the message to houses of worship and other religious entities that organizations that maintain traditional historically orthodox biblical beliefs about human sexuality are second-class institutions, outsiders, and not full members of the Hermon community.”
The Pines Church’s lawsuit against the Hermon School Department
Gioia and the Pines Church claim that the actions of the Committee violate the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, Maine Public Accommodation Laws, and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
See the full lawsuit brought against the Hermon School Department by head pastor Gioia and Pines Church below:
