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A federal court has ruled that Christian healthcare workers cannot be forced to perform elective, body-disfiguring surgeries for individuals who identify as trans despite a mandate from the Biden administration.
In an order released on Monday, the United States District Court of the District of North Dakota granted partial summary judgment in favor of the Christian Employers Alliance.
At issue were two mandates from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that interpret Title VII antidiscrimination protections based on “sex” to include sexual orientation and self-declared gender identity. It would require religious employers to provide health insurance that covers body-mutilating trans surgeries and force surgeons with religious objections to perform such procedures as castration for males and elective double mastectomies for females or face charges of discrimination based on gender identity.
The court concluded that “CEA will succeed on the merits,” adding that “if CEA had to comply with these mandates, its members would have to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs which is an impermissible exercise under the First Amendment and [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act].”
“CEA’s sincerely held religious belief is that male and female are immutable realities defined by biological sex and that gender reassignment is contrary to Christian Values,” reads the order.
“As a result, performing or providing health care coverage for gender transition services under the EEOC and HHS coverage mandates impinges upon CEA’s beliefs. CEA must either comply with the EEOC and HHS mandates by violating their sincerely held religious beliefs or else face harsh consequences like paying fines and facing civil liability.”
The decision added that although “protecting the right of transgender patients to access crucial healthcare and protecting workers from sex discrimination is certainly a compelling interest, the Defendants here have done nothing more than identify a broadly formulated interest in an attempt to justify the general applicability of the government mandates.” --->READ MORE HERE
'Biden has far overreached his constitutional authority, to the detriment of people of faith'
A district court ruled Monday that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) violated the First Amendment by attempting to force religious health care workers to provide gender transition procedures.
In 2021, the Christian Employers Alliance (CEA) filed a lawsuit against the EEOC over two mandates requiring religious employers to provide health insurance that covered gender transitions as well as forcing religious physicians to perform sex-change procedures or face charges of discrimination based on gender identity. The District Court of North Dakota ruled in favor of the CEA, arguing that the rules would violate an employer’s or doctor’s religious beliefs.
“We are overjoyed our members will not have to choose between the biblically based employee benefits and quality healthcare they provide, and the threat of federal enforcement and massive costs for practicing their faith,” Shannon Royce, president of CEA, said in a press release.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented CEA, argued that not only did the mandates require employers and doctors to cover and perform sex-change procedures, but it also demanded that they speak positively of them even if they objected, according to the press release.
The court, however, prohibited the EEOC from interpreting Title VII, which relates to discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin, to withhold funding because of an employer or doctors’ religious objections to sex-change medical procedures. --->READ MORE HERE
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