An Ohio woman is suing after being fired for expressing her anti-LGBTQ+ views.
According to court documents filed in the United States District Court Northern District of Ohio in November, Mika Cohen of Uniontown had been working as an assistant manager employed for three years at the Fairlawn branch of Kay Jewelers in Northeast Ohio.
Cohen said her co-workers have always known she is a Christian as she routinely told customers to have a “blessed day,” prayed over her lunch and talked about Christianity with other Christian employees.
Cohen believes that marriage should only be between “one man and one woman,” “all people need Jesus” and that “she cannot deny Him by denying the truth about Himself and others.”
Cohen claims that she was in a private conversation In June 2023 with a co-worker about Pride Month. In that conversation, the co-worker shared “how much she enjoyed Pride Month and her excitement about the activities that went along with it.”
In response, Cohen “offered her own view of God’s opinion about Pride Month,” including her “sincerely held religious beliefs about human sexuality, God’s creation of men and women and His design for marriage.”
Cohen says she was then terminated in August 2023 and that she did nothing wrong “in sharing the Bible’s teaching that if we deny Jesus in front of man, He will deny us in front of His Father.”
Cohen is suing for violation of Title VII (disparate treatment) and religious discrimination. She is seeking back pay, punitive damages and compensation for “emotional pain and suffering.”
Cohen is represented by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a conservative, Christian-based legal organization founded by evangelical minister Pat Robertson. ACLJ served on the advisory board of Project 2025–the federal policy conservative blueprint – and ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow was a member of President-Elect Trump’s legal team
The Buckeye Flame reached out for comment to Signet Jewelers Ltd., the Akron-headquartered parent company of Kay Jewelers, but did not receive a response.
Kay Jewelers has been explicit in their support for the LGBTQ+ community, with a specific site dedicated to supporting the weddings of same-sex couples. The jeweler drew fire in 2022 when the anti-LGBTQ+ One Million Moms group protested their inclusion of same-sex couples in their #EveryKiss campaign. 🔥
Know an LGBTQ+ Ohio story we should cover? TELL US!
Submit a story!
