Holy Sexuality v. OpenAI

SAN DIEGO – Less than two months after filing a federal lawsuit against OpenAI, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys have reached a favorable settlement on behalf of Christian nonprofit Holy Sexuality.

As part of the settlement, the tech giant agreed to remove religious discrimination language from its policy and website and give Holy Sexuality the 20% discount for a ChatGPT subscription that it offers other nonprofits. The company originally denied the discount to Holy Sexuality because it is a religious organization.

“Christians and other people of faith aren’t second-class citizens in California, and tech companies can’t deny otherwise available discounts to customers simply because they’re religious,” said ADF Senior Counsel Phil Sechler, director of the ADF Center for Free Speech. “OpenAI did the right thing by reversing course, agreeing to give Holy Sexuality the ChatGPT discount it offers other nonprofits, and eliminating its discriminatory policy.”

Holy Sexuality is a Christian nonprofit that creates video courses to teach young people and families about biblical principles on human sexuality. To operate more effectively, Holy Sexuality applied to OpenAI, a San Francisco-based tech company, to receive the company’s 20% nonprofit discount on a ChatGPT subscription. But in direct violation of California law, OpenAI denied Holy Sexuality the discount because “religious … institutions are not eligible.”

The lawsuit explained how OpenAI’s categorical denial and policy were both blatant examples of religious discrimination. Both were also illegal under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, which entitles all people in California “no matter what their … religion” to “full and equal” treatment from businesses.

Holy Sexuality is a Christian ministry that lives out its faith by creating educational content about biblical teachings. After seeing much confusion in the ongoing societal debate surrounding sexuality and gender identity, Dr. Christopher Yuan founded Holy Sexuality to provide resources for any family to understand, embrace, and celebrate biblical sexuality.

Our nation was founded on the principle of the free exercise of religion—a cornerstone of our democracy,” Yuan said. “Yet some corporations—especially tech companies—emboldened by intersectional ideology and anti-Christian sentiment, choose to unlawfully discriminate based solely on religion. We are grateful for this victory and hope it serves to remind other companies that California law protects all religions from discrimination. Equal treatment is the bedrock of our society. I rejoice with this outcome, as it is a move in the right direction. And I hope other businesses will stop discriminating based on religion.

ADF Allied Attorney Robert J. Reynolds is serving as co-counsel on behalf of Holy Sexuality.

In April, ADF attorneys favorably settled another case for Holy Sexuality against California-based software company Asana.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.