Born Again Used Books – Photo: bornagainusedbooks.com
Eric and Sara Smith, owners of Born Again Used Books — a 21-year-old Christian bookstore in Colorado Springs — are suing state officials over a new law that prohibits discrimination against transgender and gender-nonconforming people based on how they choose to be addressed.
The lawsuit challenges the Kelly Loving Act, named for a transgender woman killed in the 2022 Club Q shooting, which expands the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act and was signed in May by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.
The law expands the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and advertising based on “gender expression,” which includes a person’s appearance, manner of dress, behavior, chosen name, and how they choose to be addressed.
The law also updates the process for transgender and nonbinary people to change their name or gender marker on identity documents, with those changes taking effect on October 1, 2026, according to The Gazette, a Colorado Springs-based newspaper.
The Smiths argue that the law conflicts with their religious belief that sex is binary and fixed at birth, and violates their First Amendment rights by compelling them to engage in speech they reject.
“Although Born Again Used Books happily sells its products to everyone, Colorado now compels the bookstore to speak using pronouns and titles based on a person’s preferred gender expression — thereby requiring the store to prioritize a person’s professed identity over biological reality,” reads a press release from Alliance Defending Freedom, the anti-LGBTQ legal group representing the bookstore.
“The Bookstore cannot speak contrary to its beliefs,” the release continues. “So the store cannot use pronouns, titles, or any other language contrary to a person’s biological sex. To do so would be to affirm the view that a person’s sex can and sometimes should be changed — a view that contradicts the Bookstore’s Christian beliefs.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Division Director Aubrey Sullivan, and Attorney General Phil Weiser (D), argues that the law violates the bookstore’s First Amendment rights by imposing government-mandated speech around transgender identity. It also claims the law restricts Born Again Used Books’ ability to fully express its identity and market itself to customers.
“With constant pressure to distinguish themselves from big chains, independent bookstores tirelessly curate their shelves and ambiance to strike just the right theme — whether it’s religion, thrillers, local-interest, or LGBTQ,” the lawsuit states. “The government has no business infringing that editorial discretion or telling bookstores what to say, what views to affirm, or what sides to pick in ideological debates.”
The lawsuit also claims that if Born Again Used Books does not adopt the state’s preferred views on sex and gender, it could face “cease-and-desist orders, expensive investigations, hearings, and hefty fines,” according to the Christian Post.
The case is the latest in a series of lawsuits brought by Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of Christian business owners who argue that LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination laws infringe on their rights. The group previously represented a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple and a website designer who sought an exemption to avoid creating wedding websites for same-sex couples.
One Colorado, the state’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, argued that the law was necessary to protect transgender and nonbinary individuals’ right to be identified in a way that matches their gender identity.
“Pro-equality legislation is not just about creating hope, but creating a better reality,” said One Colorado Executive Director Nadine Bridges in a statement.
Today marks 10 years since the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which made same-sex marriage legal nationwide. Since then, the number of married same-sex couples in the U.S. has more than doubled -- even as fears grow that the ruling could be overturned.
The Williams Institute estimates there are now about 823,000 married same-sex couples in the U.S., including 591,000 who have wed since the Obergefell decision.
James Lantz, a 64-year-old gay man with terminal cancer -- known online as the "Angry Gay Grandpa" -- has been ordered to pay $16,575 in damages and a $200 fine after gluing his hand to a railing in the Pennsylvania State Capitol last year to protest anti-transgender lawmakers. The Burlington, Vermont, resident was initially charged with two felonies -- institutional vandalism and criminal mischief -- along with a misdemeanor offense.
Lantz later accepted a plea deal in which prosecutors reduced the vandalism charge to a misdemeanor. In exchange, he pleaded guilty to criminal mischief, agreed to pay restitution for damage to the railing and nearby seating in the State Senate’s visitors’ gallery, and will serve a year on probation, according to PennLive.
The U.S. Senate parliamentarian blocked several provisions in President Donald Trump's proposed tax and budget bill, including a transgender health care ban that would have prohibited federal funds from covering gender-affirming care.
The provision seeks to block transgender people of all ages -- including adults -- from accessing transition-related care by banning Medicaid, ACA marketplace plans, and the Children's Health Insurance Program from covering the cost.
But Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who is tasked offering nonpartisan advice to federal lawmakers on Senate rules, declared that the proposed transgender health care ban violates the Byrd Rule, which requires reconciliation bills -- those cobbled together to resolve differences between House and Senate versions -- to only contain provisions that impact the budget or spending, and not any "extraneous" matters.
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