Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of a Christian bookstore in Colorado seeking to uphold its religious and commonsense beliefs about biological sex.
Born Again Used Books, a family-owned bookstore in Colorado Springs, is challenging a state law that recently redefined “gender expression” to include “how an individual chooses to be addressed,” that is, pronouns and titles based on gender identity rather than biological sex. Although Born Again Used Books happily sells its products to everyone, 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 violates the Christian bookstore’s beliefs and the First Amendment.
“As the Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed, the government has no business trying to strip traditional views about sex and gender from the marketplace of ideas,” said ADF Senior Counsel Hal Frampton, director of the ADF Center for Conscience Initiatives. “Nor can the state compel Coloradans to speak in ways that violate their deeply held religious beliefs. Born Again Used Books shouldn’t have to continually choose between violating the law and speaking consistent with its Christian beliefs.”
The owners of Born Again Used Books believe that God creates each individual either male or female, and that sex cannot be chosen or changed. Because of that, the bookstore won’t ignore biological reality by using pronouns or honorifics that are inconsistent with a person’s sex. Instead, employees use biologically accurate language when referring to customers, employees, and anyone else.
The bookstore would like to formalize this policy, publish it, and explain the religious basis for the policy to the public, including by writing about it on the bookstore’s blog. Colorado makes this illegal, however. The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act now forces businesses like Born Again Used Books to use biologically inaccurate language in their publications, policies, and customer interactions—or pay hefty fines and penalties.
ADF attorneys filed Born Again Used Books v. Sullivan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
