Left: Rev. Dr. Jared Cramer of St. John's Episcopal Church and clergy members are seen during a pride worship service at the Lynne Sherwood Waterfront Stadium in Grand Haven, Mich., on Saturday, June 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Kristen Norman); Right: Ottawa County Board of Commissioners Chairman Joe Moss listens during a board meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, in West Olive, Mich. (AP Photo/Kristen Norman).
The conservative Michigan chairperson who rose to political success on a wave of anti-masking sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic must now defend himself against a federal lawsuit over excluding a pro-LGBTQ+ pastor from leading opening prayers at government meetings.
Republican Joe Moss was elected to the 11-member Ottawa County Board of Commissioners in Western Michigan in November 2022 on a platform of "Parental Rights, Individual Freedoms, American Values." Moss, who has railed against "lawfare" online, has vowed to "stand between the Left and the people of Ottawa County."
Reverend Jared Cramer, a pastor and LGBTQ+ advocate at St. John's Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, sued Moss in federal court Tuesday, alleging that Moss violated the First Amendment by refusing to allow Cramer to lead the opening prayer at commissioners' meetings.
According to court filings, commissioners' meetings begin with a roll call, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, and then with a prayer led by a local church leader. Cramer said that prior to Moss' seating as chair in January, various board members would take turns selecting the person to lead the opening prayer, though there was no formal policy on how the speakers were to be chosen.
However, since Moss has presided over proceedings, he has been the only person to select prayer leaders. According to Cramer's complaint, all of Moss' choices — some who have even led prayers multiple times — have been male pastors of Christian churches who included in their prayers "statements of praise for Ottawa Impact, the far-right political group that Defendant Moss leads and founded, whose Commissioners currently hold a controlling majority of the Commission."
Cramer, an organizer of various Pride events at his church and in the community, asked Moss multiple times that he be permitted to lead the opening prayer, but Moss did not respond to Cramer's requests.
Ottawa Impact is a conservative advocacy group that accused the Ottawa County health department of helping promote abortion and sexualize children in its 2022 so-called "Pro Life Protection Assessment," and backed a movement to abolish the county's diversity, equity and inclusion department.
Cramer's lawsuit not only focuses on the his exclusion from proceedings, but also details some past dealings that unfolded indirectly between the pastor and Moss. Cramer helped organize Grand Haven's first Pride festival, and according to the complaint, Moss responded to the event by leading the board to pass a resolution to bar funding to similar events, "falsely claiming — among other things — that Pride festivals are dangerous to children and that they endorse pedophilia."
In his complaint, Cramer alleged that as chairperson, Moss has championed an anti-LGBTQ+ agenda, and even stalled grant funding for an LGBTQ+ advocacy group for a youth.
"When Defendant Moss ultimately signed the [grant] paperwork as Chairperson of the Commission to release the funds, he initially refused to sign his name and wrote only 'vi coactus,'which is Latin for 'having been forced,'" Cramer alleges.
Cramer asserts in his lawsuit that Moss' refusal to allow him to lead the opening prayer at commission meetings amounts to an unconstitutional endorsement of one set of religious beliefs to the exclusion of another. He asks that the court order Moss to allow Cramer to lead the opening prayer at a future meeting, that the commission establish a non-discrimination policy for selecting prayer leaders, and that the court award assess punitive damages against Moss.
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits government entities from establishing or sponsoring religion. Recent cases have expanded the conservative interpretation of "religious liberty" as the Supreme Court has overturned the longstanding "Lemon Test" and allowed a public high school football coach to deliver audible on-field prayers, allowed a Christian postal worker the right to refuse Sunday work shifts, and allowed a Christian web-designer to refuse services to same-sex couples.
Moss has recently come under fire for his connection to a $74,000 payment for "undisclosed services" made by the Michigan Republican Party shortly after Moss nominated Kristina Karamo as head of the Michigan Republican Party.
Law&Crime reached out to Moss as well as counsel for Cramer for comment, but did not receive a response.
You can read the full lawsuit here.
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