WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys
WHAT: Press conference following oral arguments in XX-XY Athletics v. Sullivan and Born Again Used Books v. Sullivan
WHEN: Immediately following oral arguments, which begin at 9 a.m. MST, Monday, Nov. 16
WHERE: U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, Byron White U.S. Courthouse, 1823 Stout St., Denver, Courtroom I; or view the livestream. Press conference will take place outside the courthouse following the arguments. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Manager Jonathan Bridges at (703) 859-0428.
DENVER – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys will speak at a press conference Monday following oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in XX-XY Athletics v. Sullivan and Born Again Used Books v. Sullivan. Jennifer Sey, founder of XX-XY Athletics in Denver; Eric and Sara Smith, owners of Born Again Used Books in Colorado Springs; a Colorado softball player; and others will also speak at the press conference.
ADF attorneys represent XX-XY Athletics, an athletic apparel company, and Born Again Used Books, a Christian bookstore, in their appeal after a district court denied their request to temporarily halt enforcement of a Colorado law that restricts their ability to speak truthfully about the biological differences between men and women.
“Colorado continues to place itself on the wrong side of the law by threatening Coloradans who speak in accordance with biological reality,” said ADF Senior Counsel Hal Frampton, director of the ADF Center for Conscience Initiatives. “As the U.S. Supreme Court recently reaffirmed when it ruled against another Colorado law in Chiles v. Salazar, the government shouldn’t be able to censor speech or force people to speak views they disagree with. We are asking the appeals court to protect the ability of Coloradans to openly express their beliefs on a hotly debated issue.”
Last year, Colorado’s governor signed HB 25-1312 into law, amending the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to define “gender expression” to include a person’s “chosen name” and “how an individual chooses to be addressed.” The law, therefore, threatens businesses like XX-XY Athletics and Born Again Used Books for using biologically accurate language in their customer interactions, advertisements, and other publications, so the two companies filed suit.
XX-XY Athletics is the only athletic brand to stand up for women’s sports. The brand frequently refers to male athletes and male customers as male—even if they identify as female—putting the company at risk of violating Colorado’s law and facing cease-and-desist orders, expensive investigations, hearings, and civil and criminal penalties. Katherine C. Yarger of Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLC is co-counsel with ADF in the XX-XY Athletics case.
Born Again Used Books happily sells its products to anyone, but Colorado now compels the bookstore to speak using pronouns and titles based on a person’s preferred gender expression—thereby requiring the store to prioritize a person’s professed identity over biological reality. That requirement violates the Christian bookstore’s beliefs and the First Amendment.
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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