The Expensive Sex Scandal Family Research Council Doesn’t Want You To Know About

Surprise! The Family Research Council has been caught acting shady again, but they don’t want you or anyone else to know about it.

On Friday it was reported by Washington Gadly that the conservative hate group 501(c)3 organization quietly settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with former employee Moira Gaul. The lawsuit was actually closed eight months ago, but FRC successfully kept the settlement quiet… Until now.

The drama started back in 2012 when Gaul, who worked for FRC from 2005 to 2009, claimed she was a victim of sexual harassment at the hands of her supervisor, anti-abortion lawyer named Bill Saunders.

Gaul was originally hired as an (irony alert) “abstinence coordinator” in 2005. In 2007, she was promoted to Director of Women’s and Reproductive Health. That’s when the harassment began.

“Examples of his behavior include, but are not limited to, pressuring me to attend parties, referring to me as a ‘young, attractive woman,’ and emailing me ‘hi cutie,’” Gaul said at the time. “He also referred to the use of birth-control pills by young women as ‘whoring around.’ His attitude toward me and other women was rude, belittling, and at times angry.”

Considering FRC’s official views on women’s rights and reproductive health, we’re not sure why Gaul was so surprised by her supervisor’s treatment, but whatever.

After she filed an official gender discrimination complaint against Saunders in January 2009, FRC cancelled Gaul’s health insurance. When she complained to HR about it, she was warned never to bring up the issue again or she would be reprimanded.

After enduring months of this kind of treatment, Gaul was finally let go in October 2009. At the time, FRC cited federal budget cuts for the termination. But three months later, a new position with duties similar to the ones previously held by Gaul was created.

Last May, Gaul and the FRC went into mediation. The case was settled two months later, on July 25, 2013. Details of the settlement were not made public, but Rich Cohen, an employment lawyer, told Washington Gadly that, “It would appear to me there is a very strong possibility money was paid” to settle the case.

Gaul’s lawyer, Jeffrey Landis, told Washington Gadly: “Ms. Gaul is very pleased and satisfied with the outcome.”

The moral of the story: Moira Gaul laid down with dogs, got fleas, and got paid.