Iowa commission revisions won’t stop church lawsuit

An Iowa church is proceeding with its federal lawsuit against the state and the City of Des Moines despite revisions to a controversial brochure that gives guidance for implementing the Iowa Civil Rights Act. An attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represents the church, said the statute and the “unregulated, unaccountable” Iowa Civil Rights Commission (ICRC) represent the threat to her client, not the brochure.

On Friday afternoon, the ICRC announced changes to its guidance brochure, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: A Public Accommodations Provider’s Guide to Iowa Law, after four days of national scrutiny. The brochure, published in 2008, implied churches must comply with a 2007 amendment to the Iowa Civil Rights Act that made sexual orientation and gender identity protected classes. Two Iowa churches said the law was at odds with Christian doctrine concerning human sexuality and asked ADF and First Liberty Institute for assistance.

Bewildered by the sudden attention to the 9-year-old law, ICRC Executive Director Kristin Johnson announced changes to the guidance brochure Thursday. But the law will remain the same.

“The Iowa Civil Rights Commission has not done anything to suggest it would be enforcing these laws against ministers in the pulpit, and there has been no new publication or statement from the ICRC raising the issue,” Johnson said in a statement released with the revised brochure. “The commission regrets the confusion caused by the previous publication.”

The “minor revision” failed to alleviate concerns about the vague wording of the state law and an identical Des Moines city code, said Christiana Holcomb, an attorney with ADF.

“While the commission was right to remove some of the most disturbing language in its brochure, the change in the brochure doesn’t fix the inherent problem with the Civil Rights Act that forms the basis of the lawsuit—that the act gives the commission power to determine what parts of a church’s activities do not have a ‘bona fide religious purpose’ and are thereby subject to the act’s prohibitions,” Holcomb said in a written statement.

ADF plans to file its suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.

First Liberty issued a statement Friday saying it would “[take] the state at its word that it will not encroach on the church in any way.” The legal organization represents Cornerstone World Outreach and sent a letter July 5 to the ICRC demanding the commission’s guidelines be retracted.

“I accept the Iowa Civil Rights Commission’s public apology, with clear reservations,” said Cary Gordon, the church’s senior pastor. “We will continue to monitor their activities and stand ready to defend all churches at any time.”

While the lawsuit only seeks relief for ADF’s client, Fort Des Moines Church of Christ, a ruling by the court declaring the statute unconstitutional could set a precedent for other churches and faith-based ministries, Holcomb told me.

As it stands, the language of the law is too vague, she said, leaving it open to interpretation by courts or the unregulated and unaccountable Iowa Civil Rights Commission. Holcomb said people told her that at the time the amendment passed nine years ago, even its supporters did not presume it would be leveraged to force public and private entities to open their gender-segregated restrooms to transgender persons.

But as the culture has changed, so has the interpretation of sexual orientation and gender identity non-discrimination laws that have long lain dormant, Holcomb said. Constitutionally protected religious liberty should not be left to an unelected commission that has “all this power to interpret the law and then enforce it. Everyone must play by their rules,” she said.