In a stunning rebuke of one of America’s biggest airlines, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a blistering decision this week, ruling that flight attendants Lacey Smith and Marli Brown deserve their day in a jury trial after Alaska Airlines booted them from their jobs for questioning the Equality Act.
The attendants were fired after Brown posted a comment on the company’s internal messaging board, saying the Equality Act would “endanger the Christian church” and threaten religious freedom. Smith asked the question — “As a company, do you think it’s possible to regulate morality?” The Equality Act, a bill proposed in 2019, sought to extend civil rights protections to people based on their so-called gender identity.
Alaska Airlines called their posts “hateful,” “offensive,” and “discriminatory.” One company VP testified that Brown’s use of the phrase “opposite sex” was discriminatory because — in his view — it implied only two sexes exist. A lawyer in Alaska Airlines’ legal department declared in an internal email that “employees actually do not have the right to believe that LGBTQ rights are ‘immoral.'” A colleague shot back: “I 100% agree.”
Huge victory at the U.S. Court of Appeals for our clients Lacey Smith and Marli Brown! The legal battle is ongoing, but this is an incredible step towards a final victory that will restore Lacey and Marli’s religious freedom. pic.twitter.com/SSJ3PkqxUV
— First Liberty Institute (@firstliberty_) June 24, 2026
Meanwhile, the flight attendants’ own union — which typically defends employees — was privately cheering their destruction. The union’s top executive called Smith a “bigot” in text and told Alaska Airlines management to send her “bigoted a** packing.” Another union rep suggested putting both women in “a burlap bag and drop them in a well.” That same rep then showed up to represent Brown at her disciplinary hearing.
The appeals court wasn’t buying any of it. The judges found that a reasonable jury could absolutely conclude Alaska Airlines used its anti-harassment policies as cover to punish two women for their faith — especially given that the airline itself had invited employees to “openly share ideas” and “understand one another” on the very forum where Brown and Smith posted their remarks.
The court noted with particular withering clarity that Alaska “created a forum for employee discussion on controversial issues, then fired Brown after she made religious objections of the kind Alaska anticipated.” The Notice of Discharge against Smith — who had asked a single philosophical question — characterized her words as speech that “targets a group of individuals based on their legally protected characteristics.” A jury, the court said, could easily find that description “overwrought or inaccurate.”
Both women had exemplary records. Brown had never been disciplined once in eight years.
The case now heads back to trial. For Lacey Smith and Marli Brown, the fight for their careers — and their faith — is far from over.
But for the first time in years, they have a fighting chance.
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