Christian employers file lawsuit against Biden gender transition health coverage mandates

Christian Employers Alliance, a nonprofit representing Christian-owned businesses and protecting religious freedom in the workplace, is suing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for issuing mandates the group argues would require religious employers and providers to pay for and perform, respectively, gender transition surgeries.

The HHS mandate was issued in May by the department's Office for Civil Rights, invoking its responsibility for enforcing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act "protecting the civil rights of individuals who access or seek to access covered health programs or activities," a responsibility that includes prohibiting discrimination "on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity."

The EEOC mandate, citing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, requires employers with over 14 employees to "provide employee health plans or health insurance coverage that cover gender transition surgeries and services, such as medical procedures to transition a biological male to a transgender female or to transition a biological female to a transgender male" and "requires coverage for other gender transition services such as supportive counseling/psychotherapy and cross-sex hormone therapy and treatment."