A new mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is forcing employees to deny reality and violate federal law, according to a legal expert. The HHS’s new “pronoun mandate” requires all HHS employees to “use preferred pronouns and gender-neutral language for all HHS beneficiaries and employees” — regardless of a person’s actual gender.
The mandate, which was issued last month, states that, “Integrating the use of preferred pronouns and gender-neutral language into HHS interaction with beneficiaries and employees is an important step in promoting an inclusive environment for all, and one that is free from discrimination of any kind.”
However, legal expert Roger Severino, from the Center for American Values, says the mandate is “Orwellian” and, in its current form, violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Severino claims the mandate forces HHS employees to deny the only objective reality, which is biological sex.
“The HHS has crossed a line here and is forcing its employees to deny reality and speak untruths about basic human biology,” Severino said. “Any policy that restrains our freedom to speak the truth is unconscionable, and this one does it in the name of ‘inclusivity.'”
Severino adds that the HHS is now requiring its employees to “choose between violating their deeply held beliefs and religious convictions, and complying with the mandate and potentially communicating messages that are contrary to their religious beliefs.”
The Center for American Values has filed a lawsuit seeking to nullify the HHS’s mandatory pronoun policy, and Severino says the case could be a landmark decision causing long-lasting implications for religious freedom and the autonomy of all people.
Severino concluded by saying, “The HHS has overreached here and is forcing its employees to violate federal law and their religious and moral convictions. We are seeking to protect the freedom of all people to communicate truths and beliefs they hold dear, free of government interference.”
