Religious-based lawsuit challenges Iowa gender identity interpretation

Rod Boshart Times Bureau
Updated 15 hrs ago

DES MOINES — An Iowa church has enlisted the help of a legal alliance in challenging a state Civil Rights Commission position on gender identity protections that they regard as an unprecedented government intrusion into religious freedom.

Attorneys with the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom said Tuesday they have filed a pre-emptive federal lawsuit on behalf of the Fort Des Moines Church of Christ challenging the Iowa commission’s interpretation of a law they contend could “censor a church’s teaching on biblical sexuality” and force it to open its restrooms and showers to members of the opposite sex.

“Churches should be free to live and work according to their religious convictions, to teach their religious beliefs and to operate their facilities in a way that is consistent with those beliefs, and Fort Des Moines Church of Christ discovered that an unelected Iowa commission has basically said that no longer is the case,” said Christiana Holcomb, an attorney for the nonprofit legal organization with a stated mission of advocating for the right of people to live out their faith freely.

“Based on our research, the Iowa Civil Rights Commission’s action in this situation is absolutely unprecedented in American history,” Holcomb said during an interview Tuesday.

http://qctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/iowa/religious-based-lawsuit-challenges-iowa-gender-identity-interpretation/article_e42c2f2a-b5c1-5540-bf3a-d684a49a8ace.html

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