KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – A coalition of 18 states filed suit May 13 against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for including gender identity in Title VII protections against sex discrimination.
The states oppose EEOC guidance requiring employers to call transgendered employees by their preferred pronouns and to allow them to use facilities such as bathrooms, locker rooms and showers that align with their chosen gender.
The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), which opposed the guidance before the EEOC finalized it, welcomed the states’ action.
“As we argued in our comments, ‘By requiring pronoun usage or the usage of names that do not align with a man or woman’s biological sex, the EEOC is requiring that many employees forsake their conscience by repeatedly caving to an ideology forced upon them, thus compelling them to betray their deeply held religious beliefs regarding what is true and good,’” ERLC Policy Director Hannah Daniel told Baptist Press.
“It is good to see states challenging this guidance and upholding the rights of people of faith to not only hold to traditional beliefs about gender and sexuality but also to express those beliefs in the workplace.”
Read the full Baptist Press article here.
