Born Again Used Books in Colorado Springs filed the lawsuit because the state recently amended its Anti-Discrimination Act to require all businesses in the state to use individuals' preferred pronouns.
Mercer Martin of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the law firm representing the bookstore, asserts that the Christian bookstore "serves everyone with Christian kindness and charity."
"But they cannot speak in a way that is untruthful and that would violate their Christian beliefs," he adds. "Because they believe that there are only two sexes – male and female – and that it can't be changed, they cannot abide by this coercion and censorship by Colorado."
In addition to the lawsuit, ADF has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. It alleges violations of the owners' freedoms of speech and religion.
Martin makes note of the Masterpiece Cakeshop case in which the Supreme Court found in 2018 that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had exhibited hostility towards the religious beliefs of the shop owner, Jack Phillips.
But since the Court focused on the specific conduct of the Commission, the decision was widely viewed as a narrow ruling that did not address the broader First Amendment issues it presented.
The Supreme Court addressed those in 2023 in the 303 Creative case.
In that case, ADF represented Lorie Smith, a graphic designer who, based on her sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage, wanted to make wedding websites for one-man, one-woman couples. The Court held that this exact same law, the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, could not be used to force a business to speak messages that violate their beliefs.
"That is exactly what's happening here again," Martin summarizes.
So even though the nation's highest court has been clear that Colorado cannot impose a radical speech agenda that forces businesses to speak things that are biologically inaccurate and that they do not believe to be true based on their Christian faith, the ADF attorney laments that The Centennial State "is back at it."
"Born Again Used Books would definitely appreciate the prayers of Christians nationwide that are concerned about censorship," Martin says.
