BISMARK, North Dakota (LifeSiteNews) — On behalf of the Christian Employers Alliance (CEA), the legal team of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) presented oral arguments before the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota today, to challenge two mandates imposed by the Biden Administration. These mandates coerce for-profit and nonprofit religious employers and providers to either pay for or perform gender-transition surgeries, procedures, counseling, or other treatments — all of which are in direct violation of their deeply-held religious beliefs. Last October, ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit and motion to halt the enforcement of these mandates.
ADF’s lawsuit, Christian Employers Alliance v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (CEA v. EEOC), makes clear that the EEOC — which exists to enforce federal workplace laws, guidelines, and regulations — is both misinterpreting and improperly enforcing Title VII’s definition of sex-based discrimination. As such, the EEOC is compelling religious employers and providers to provide and pay for health insurance coverage for gender transition surgeries, treatments, and more. CEA v. EEOC also challenges a similar mandate being enforced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), due to its reinterpretation of “sex” to include gender identity. In doing so, the agency is forcing religious healthcare providers to either physically perform, facilitate, or promote gender transition surgeries and procedures that are contrary to their deeply held religious beliefs and expert medical judgment.
“The evidence surrounding transgender treatments and services is deficient and distorted. For this Administration to force businesses to cover experimental, irreversible, and often sterilizing procedures is inhumane and unconstitutional. The ever-growing number of people seeking to detransition underscores the fallacy that these procedures are ‘affirming’ and ‘lifesaving,’” said CEA President Shannon Royce, J.D. “Despite this Administration’s grave overreach of its purpose and authority, CEA counts it a privilege to stand for truth – that all people are created in the image of God as male or female. These mandates are crippling for the countless Christian-owned and operated businesses seeking to care well for their employees without the fear of punishing fines, burdensome litigation costs, the loss of federal funds, and even criminal penalties.”
“As stewards of the health and safety of our valued employees, it is unconscionable and unconstitutional to be mandated to provide, pay for, or promote services and procedures that directly contradict our deeply held religious beliefs.”