College of the Ozarks has filed suit in federal court against the Biden Administration’s order that people be allowed to use facilities of a declared gender rather than biological gender.
The executive order is being executed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which says entities covered by the Fair Housing Act cannot “discriminate” based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“The government cannot and should not force schools to open girls’ dorms to males based on its politically motivated and inappropriate redefinition of ‘sex,’” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake, who will represent the school, said in a statement. “Women shouldn’t be forced to share private spaces—including showers and dorm rooms—with males, and religious schools shouldn’t be punished simply because of their beliefs about marriage and biological sex. Government overreach by the Biden administration continues to victimize women, girls, and people of faith by gutting their legal protections, and it must be stopped.”
College of the Ozarks said in a press statement that they hold to the Christian belief that biological sex is not changeable, and that it operates dorms under that belief system. The College says their “sincerely held religious beliefs” influence all policies, such as prohibiting males from living in female dorms.
“Religious freedom is under attack in America, and we won’t stand on the sidelines and watch,” College of the Ozarks President, Dr. Jerry C. Davis, said in a statement. “To threaten religious freedom is to threaten America itself. College of the Ozarks will not allow politicians to erode this essential American right or the ideals that shaped America’s founding.”
The school’s suit opposes the HUD directive and states that the historical judicial interpretation of the Fair Housing Act has defined “sex” as biological sex. The suit also says the order violates the school’s Constitutional right to operate in a manner consistent with their religious beliefs.
The School of the Ozarks, Inc. d/b/a College of the Ozarks v. Biden has been filed in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, Southern Division.