In the midst of a nearly three-year-long legal battle, Joseph Kuilema v. Calvin University is now heading to Michigan’s Supreme Court for the presentation of oral arguments, per a court order issued on Jan. 16, 2026. 

This decision from the Michigan Supreme Court follows a developing story that began on April 18, 2022, when Joe Kuilema, at the time a social work professor at Calvin for 14 years, was notified that he was denied faculty reappointment due to his decision to officiate a same-sex marriage ceremony in October of the previous year, according to previous Chimes reporting. In August 2022, Kuilema’s contract at Calvin was officially terminated.

A year later, on April 14, 2023, Kuilema sued Calvin for a claim that the university had violated Article two of Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), which states that an employer may not “fail or refuse to hire or recruit, discharge, or otherwise discriminate against an individual with respect to employment, compensation, or a term, condition, or privilege of employment, because of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight or marital status.”

Kuilema has pursued two claims of discrimination based on ELCRA: associational discrimination and retaliatory discrimination. It was determined that depositions and discovery should follow the retaliatory discrimination. 

Based on ELCRA, Kuilema believes that an act of associational discrimination — which he explains as “associating with a protected class of people and facing discrimination on their behalf” — had occurred in the event of his denied reappointment. This, Kuilema and his team suggest, is based on the idea that the use of the word “sex” in ELCRA does not only mean Kuilema’s sex, but rather sex in general.

Judges came to a 2-1 decision against the violation of ELCRA based on the associational discrimination claim. Kuilema and his team sided with the dissenting opinion and have requested that the Supreme Court  of Michigan might hear the case, which they have since agreed to. 

In terms of Calvin’s view of the case, John Zimmerman, associate director of public relations, shared the following statement. “The Calvin University community has been well served throughout its 150-year history by having diverse viewpoints among its faculty. The university’s denomination, the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), has recognized and supported this diversity of viewpoints, endorsing the university’s approach to confessional commitment and academic freedom. While there is room for personal disagreement with CRC doctrine, the university has clear expectations for employees regarding teaching, scholarship and personal conduct, and follows established processes to review alleged violations of those expectations and to determine appropriate responses. The university has no further comment on active litigation and remains focused on its mission to equip students to think deeply, to act justly and to live wholeheartedly as Christ’s agents of renewal in the world.”

Now, Kuilema explained, both sides have been requested to submit supplemental briefs to the Michigan Supreme Court. Going forward, an oral argument will be heard by Michigan’s Supreme Court in which it will be determined “whether the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act … provides a cause of action for sex-based associational discrimination … and, if so … whether the plaintiff adequately pled such a claim,” the court order reads. Kuilema will be assisted by the American Civil Liberties Fund of Michigan, Equality Michigan, the Grand Rapids Pride Center, Affirmations Community Center, and Michigan Association for Justice; Calvin will be assisted by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. A date for this oral argument has yet to be announced.