A Catholic bookstore in Jacksonville, Florida, filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging a city law requiring it to silence its religious views in order to speak out against its beliefs and stay in business.
Queen of Angels Catholic Bookstore sells books, crucifixes and other Catholic resources.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represents the bookstore, explained in a statement, “In everything it does, Queen of Angels and its owner, Christy Detrude, strive to honor God and promote their Catholic beliefs through the store’s website and YouTube channel. . The bookstore serves all customers and makes its products available to anyone. Happy to sell but DeTrude and his bookstore staff can’t speak to messages that violate their faith.
The city passed a human rights ordinance in 2017 that added sexual orientation and gender identity to civil rights law.
“Thus, they confirm that men and women are different and that pronouns or titles that do not match the customer’s sexuality are not used,” the statement continued. “DeTrude wants to explain this policy and its Catholic beliefs about gender and sexuality in its store and on the store’s website. However, doing so is illegal under Jacksonville’s Human Rights Ordinance, which prohibits communications that make someone feel ‘unwanted’ based on a variety of protected characteristics. Noncompliance carries unlimited fines.” and threatens the queen of the angels with harm.
A case was filed against this on Ash Wednesday.
“Freedom is for all. “Americans should be free to say what they believe without fear of government punishment,” said Rachel Tsoutoros, ADF legal counsel. “Christie, the owner of Queen of Angels Catholic Bookstore, is happy to serve everyone, but she cannot speak messages that are contrary to her religious beliefs. Yet Jacksonville is illegally requiring Queen of Angels to renounce her religious beliefs—the same faith that motivates the store to open its doors to customers every day.
“Consequently, the law requires this Catholic bookstore to cease to be fully Catholic,” the 52-page lawsuit says.
“Christie founded the Queen of Angels Bookstore to serve the Jacksonville community and share her Catholic beliefs, but if she did so she would face unlimited fines from city officials,” said ADF Senior Counsel Hal Frampton. “This case is the latest example of government officials across the country using the fundamental doctrine to overrule dissenters. Punishing someone because of their opinions violates the First Amendment, but it has devastating consequences for free speech, working professionals, women and children.
