Christian employers fight mandates on gender, abortion

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of the Christian Employers Alliance. The Christian group argued in its legal complaint that the commission misinterpreted two laws when it required employers to affirm gender ideology and facilitate employee abortions. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that the EEOC is violating their free speech by requiring the employers to act in a way that is contrary to their religious beliefs. The Alliance Defending Freedom and the Christian Employers Alliance in September stopped an attempt by Biden administration to force all employers and healthcare providers to pay for transgender surgeries.

What are the two laws that are allegedly being misinterpreted? First, the complaint argues that the EEOC applied Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to force employers to affirm and accommodate an employee’s so-called gender transition. Under the commission’s mandate, employers face penalties if they do not use an employee’s self-selected pronouns and if they do not allow workers to use single-sex facilities, such as bathrooms, intended for members of the opposite sex. The EEOC website says the law forbids employers from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Second, a change to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers to give workers special leave to obtain abortions, according to the complaint. The Christian group claims the EEOC labels pro-life speech as harassment and prevents employers from enforcing pro-life workplace policies. 

Dig deeper: Read Nathan A. Finn’s opinion column about a federal judge blocking the Biden administration’s attempt to expand Title IX.