Tech company sued for anti-religious software pricing

A major California tech company refused to give a ministry a nonprofit discount solely because of the nonprofit’s religious focus.

The Holy Sexuality Project, started in 2023 by Christopher Yuan, seeks to provide youth with a video curriculum on the Biblical principles of human sexuality. But this December, his ministry hit a roadblock when he applied for the typical 50% nonprofit discount from the software program, Asana, to help run his organization.

On Tuesday, Holy Sexuality filed a lawsuit against the company in federal court in California contending that Asana discriminated against his nonprofit based on religion.

“Our nation was founded on the principle of the free exercise of religion—a cornerstone of our democracy,” Yuan said in a statement. “Yet some corporations, emboldened by intersectional ideology and anti-Christian sentiment, choose to unlawfully discriminate based solely on religion. This must stop.”

Yuan’s motivation to start Holy Sexuality began long before 2023, according to the complaint. Prior to becoming a Christian, Yuan was agnostic and identified as gay. While attending dental school, he became addicted to drugs and was expelled. A few years later, authorities arrested Yuan for dealing drugs and sentenced him to federal prison for six years.

There, Yuan found a copy of the Bible, which led him to start attending Moody Bible Institute. After he was released from prison, he then taught at the school for more than 12 years.

Now, Yuan uses his story to minister as a speaker, book author, and through videos with Holy Sexuality. He launched the nonprofit, including a video series, as a resource for families as they navigate the cultural debate over gender ideology and sexual orientation.

Yuan planned for six employees to use Asana’s project management software to enable his ministry to “operate more effectively.” Asana’s website claims that 85% of Fortune 100 companies use the program.

When Yuan requested the company’s 50% nonprofit discount, Asana immediately denied Yuan the discount under a company policy that the complaint dubs a “religious discrimination policy.” According to Asana’s website, it prohibits the discount for “religious organizations that exist to solely propagate a belief in a specific faith or do not provide services to people outside of a specific faith.”

“I never anticipated that our religious beliefs would prevent us from receiving the same benefits as other nonprofits,” Yuan said in a statement to WORLD. “It’s fundamentally unfair. We wanted to benefit from the project management software as any other nonprofit would—to create additional educational content and fulfill our mission to support and empower families.”

Without Asana’s discount, Holy Sexuality will pay $24.99 per user per month instead of $12.50 per user per month, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit contends that Asana’s policy violates California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, which guarantees that people in the state are entitled to “full and equal” treatment from businesses.

Asana’s denial is “clear black and white” religious discrimination that violates California’s law, said Mathew Hoffmann, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Yuan.

“There is a very direct conflict between Asana’s policy, which discriminates explicitly based on religion, and the Unruh Act in California which explicitly protects religion and full equal enjoyment to businesses,” Hoffmann said. “Tech companies or any other companies cannot provide benefits to some but then exclude others just based on their religion alone.”

Additionally, Asana’s policy is unfairly applied, Hoffmann said. According to the lawsuit, the software company has provided the discount to nonprofits that hold beliefs opposite of Yuan’s, along with a few religious nonprofits, such as Islamic Relief of Canada.

A win for Yuan would signal to other tech companies in the state that policies like this are unlawful, Hoffmann said. OpenAI, a software company based in San Francisco, has a policy similar to Asana’s. Victory for Yuan could also apply to other states that have similar public accommodation laws like California’s Unruh Act and set a precedent nationwide, Hoffmann added.

“We are hoping that we will send a clear message to tech companies and other companies in California that it is unlawful to discriminate based on religion,” Hoffmann said. “The bottom line is that religious organizations aren’t second-class citizens in California or anywhere else.”