A Christian bookstore in Colorado has filed a lawsuit against state officials, claiming a law forces the store’s owners to endorse LGBT ideology despite their religious objections.
Born Again Used Books of Colorado Springs filed a complaint on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado regarding recent changes to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, which defines “gender expression” protections to include “chosen name” and “how an individual chooses to be addressed.”
The law states that Coloradans have a right to access “public accommodations[] and advertising” on the aforementioned basis of gender expression.
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“Under this revised CADA language, it is now illegal for public accommodations like independent bookstores to refer to transgender-identifying individuals with biologically accurate language in their publications and customer interactions,” the lawsuit reads.
“Born Again Used Books must instead profess an ideological view it opposes, contradict the message espoused in the very books it sells, and avoid explaining its Christian beliefs about human sexuality in store and online. In effect, the law requires this Christian bookstore to abandon its core religious beliefs.”
If the bookstore refuses to do so, according to the complaint, it “faces cease-and-desist orders, expensive investigations, hearings, and hefty fines.”
Named defendants in the filing include Colorado Civil Rights Division Director Aubrey C. Sullivan, members of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
Born Again Used Books is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group that has successfully argued First Amendment cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“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 in a statement on Wednesday.
“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.”
In May, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 25-1312, also known as the Kelly Loving Act, into law. It was named after a trans-identified individual who was murdered at the Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs in 2022.
According to its official summary, the new law defines “chosen name” as “a name that an individual requests to be known as in connection to the individual’s disability, race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, familial status, national origin, or ancestry, so long as the name does not contain offensive language and the individual is not requesting the name for frivolous purposes.”
Anaya Robinson, senior policy strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, who trans identifies, defended the legislation earlier this year, saying the trans community needed “robust and clear protections that do not rely on federal law.”
“Does this bill do enough? No, and honestly legislation never will, but it does something,” Robinson said, as reported by Colorado Newsline in May.
“It gives trans folks harmed across the state more access to legal protections than we have today, and in a time where our literal existence is being questioned, our history being erased, the legality of our bodies and our autonomy is being decided by people who do not believe we have a right to live, we need our elected officials and our community organizations to step up and do something.”
