Catholic Bookstore Sues Jacksonville Over Law it Says is a Trans Pronoun Mandate

The bookstore is receiving pro bono legal services from ADF for the lawsuit.

A Catholic bookstore in Jacksonville, Florida, is suing the city to block a law it says could force the business to use a person’s preferred pronouns when they do not reflect the person’s biological sex, claiming the law violates its constitutional rights.

The suit, filed by the Queen of Angels Catholic Bookstore in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division, takes issue with the city’s Human Rights Ordinance.

The city’s anti-discrimination law was expanded in 2020 to include protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The bookstore filed the lawsuit because similar laws have been interpreted in such a way elsewhere in the country.

The lawsuit argues that the law forces them to recognize transgender pronouns, including so-called “neopronouns” that do not reflect either the male or female gender, and prevents them from formalizing an official pronoun policy that is consistent with a Catholic understanding of sex and gender.

Continued below.