Christian Employers Alliance v. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission II

BISMARCK, N.D. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the Christian Employers Alliance filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the Biden administration to challenge mandates that force religious employers to violate their beliefs concerning gender identity and abortion. ADF attorneys argue the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is misinterpreting “sex” in the Title VII law to include “gender identity,” and that it has twisted “pregnancy” in a law to protect pregnant women to compel support for abortion.

The mandates in question require both non-profit and for-profit religious employers to violate their religious beliefs by affirming and accommodating employees’ “gender transition” efforts, use inaccurate pronouns, and erase single-sex facilities. The EEOC mandates also require religious employers to promote and facilitate elective abortions, labeling pro-life speech as “harassment.”

“All employers, including those in the Christian Employers Alliance, have the constitutionally protected freedom to conduct their business in a manner consistent with their deeply held religious beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Director of Regulatory Practice Matt Bowman. “The employers we represent believe that God purposefully created humans as either male or female, and so it would violate their religious beliefs and free speech to force them to affirm an identity that is not aligned with a person’s sex. They also believe in the sanctity of human life, and forcing them to promote abortions adds insult to injury. We are urging the court to, once again, uphold the religious freedom of these employers from attacks by the outgoing Biden administration.”

The complaint notes that the Title VII mandate “threatens employers with large penalties if they do not use employees’ self-selected pronouns based on gender identity, and if they do not allow males to access female single-sex restrooms, locker rooms, and lactation rooms.” The complaint also explains that the change to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act “prevents employers from speaking their pro-life beliefs, requires employers to knowingly give employees special leave, including paid leave, to obtain abortions, and precludes employers from enforcing life-affirming workplace policies against employees who engage in conduct contrary to those policies.”

In a previous case, CEA successfully challenged Biden administration mandates that concerned health care, forcing religious entities to pay for “gender transition” procedures in health insurance and to provide and affirm those practices in the delivery of health care.

ADF attorneys filed Christian Employers Alliance v. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, Western Division.

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.

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