BISMARCK, N.D. – To partially settle a lawsuit brought by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, a federal district court finalized on Tuesday an agreement by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to allow Christian employers to conduct their business in a manner consistent with their faith.
ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Christian Employers Alliance in January 2025, challenging Biden administration mandates that forced religious employers to violate their beliefs concerning gender ideology in the workplace. The attorneys argued that the EEOC misinterpreted “sex” in the Title VII law to include “gender identity” and “transgender status,” requiring both non-profit and for-profit religious employers to violate their religious beliefs by affirming and facilitating employees’ “gender transition” efforts, using inaccurate pronouns, and erasing single-sex facilities.
“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. It would violate their religious beliefs and free speech, and threaten workplace safety and privacy, to force them to accept and promote gender ideology. We’re pleased the EEOC agreed to uphold the religious freedom of these employers and protect them from the previous administration’s unlawful discrimination.”
As part of the settlement, the EEOC agreed it will not prosecute any present or future member of the CEA on issues of pronouns, bathrooms, and dress codes in the workplace under gender identity or transgender mandates.
The Title VII mandate threatened 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.”
In the case, Christian Employers Alliance v. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, ADF attorneys also challenged the Biden administration EEOC’s action to twist “pregnancy” in a law to protect pregnant women to compel support for abortion and also to require religious employers to promote and facilitate elective abortions, labeling pro-life speech as “harassment.” That portion of the lawsuit will continue but is on hold in the case.
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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