World Vision can pull job offer to a woman in same-sex marriage, 9th Circuit rules
August 11, 2025
A federal appeals court has ruled that the Evangelical humanitarian organization World Vision was within its rights to withdraw a customer service job offer from a woman in a same-sex marriage.
The Christian Post reports that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, last Tuesday overruled a lower court ruling that had found that World Vision discriminated against the applicant under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Washington Law Against Discrimination.
In the case of World Vision, Inc. v. McMahon, the three-judge panel ruled that customer service representatives perform “vital religious duties” at the core of the organization’s mission.
Their conclusion also found that the position qualified for a ministerial exception to employment discrimination laws, because they are the organization’s “voice, face, and heart.”
According to the Christian Post, Aubry McMahon sued World Vision in 2021 after the group rescinded her offer to fill a remote donor and customer service representative trainee position.
During the interview process, McMahon claimed to be “aligned” with World Vision’s standards of conduct, which require sexual activity to be within a marriage relationship between a man and a woman.
After being offered the position, McMahon emailed World Vision to ask if she qualified for leave, writing, “My wife and I are expecting our first baby in March. … I will be the one having the baby so I just wanted to check to see if any time would be allowed off.”
A district court initially granted summary judgment for World Vision, based upon the church autonomy doctrine, but later reversed itself, finding that the organization had engaged in “facially discriminatory hiring policy” after McMahon filed for reconsideration.
Last week’s 9th Circuit decision found that the lower court “erred” by viewing the job in the abstract rather than within the context of World Vision’s mission.
Photo: top, Credit: World Vision/Jon Warren