Ex-bishop and Stanton church

Continued from page 1 was forced out from his post after enduring several months of discrimination and harassment. The denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, declined comment, according to an email from spokesperson Candice Buchbinder.

Rohrer, of San Francisco, resigned in June as bishop of the ELCA’s Sierra Pacific Synod amid allegations of racism after he fired the pastor of a predominantly Latino, immigrant congregation in Stanton on the Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, for which the community had planned elaborate festivities.

In his lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Rohrer accuses the denomination of discriminating against him for being transgender and deliberately misgendering him and creating a “hostile work environment.” He is seeking monetary damages.

Rohrer said that he always felt the support of Lutherans in the pews, but not from the higher echelons of the national church.

On his first day as bishop, during a video call, Rohrer said he was misgendered and ridiculed for featuring drag queens at his ordination.