CV NEWS FEED // Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, and Rep. Andy Ogles, R-TN, introduced legislation that seeks to stop the federal government from forcing its employees to use LGBTQ “preferred” pronouns.
On Friday, Cruz introduced the Senate version of the “Safeguarding Free Speech Act” while Ogles introduced the House version.
According to the bill’s text, it would “prohibit the use of funds to implement, administer, or enforce measures requiring certain employees to refer to an individual by the preferred pronouns of such individual or a name other than the legal name of such individual, and for other purposes.”
“Forcing anyone to use pronouns that don’t accord with a person’s biological sex is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment,” Cruz stated in a press release announcing the effort. “The government has no business compelling anyone to use pronouns that contradict biological reality.”
“Can you imagine getting reprimanded or fired from your job for not using an individual’s ‘preferred pronouns’?” Ogles wrote in the same release.
“Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Biden regime has imposed in its latest guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS],” he continued:
The radical Left is actively coercing the speech of individuals – all in service of a delusional woke agenda. The American people shouldn’t be asked by their government to subsidize violations of the Constitution of the United States. I’m grateful for Senator Cruz’s efforts to lead the fight in the Senate, and look forward to considering this legislation in the 118th Congress.
Cruz’s press release noted that CatholicVote supports this proposed legislation.
Craig Bannister of the Media Research Center reported that Cruz and Ogles’ legislation “would entitle federal employees and contractors to sue for, and collect, damages of up to $100,000 if a federal agency or department forces them to use biologically-inaccurate personal pronouns.”
Bannister also noted that Cruz “attributes the bill to a new government policy that he says violates employees’ constitutional rights to both free speech and freedom of religion.”
“On October 11th, 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a new ‘Gender Identity Non-Discrimination and Inclusion Policy for Employees and Applicants,’” Cruz’s office explained in a “Background” section of the press release:
Among many other harmful changes, this policy compelled speech by requiring employees and contractors with HHS to call other employees by their “preferred pronouns,” even if those pronouns do not align with biological reality.
This speech mandate violates the First Amendment by compelling government employees and contracts to affirm the idea that a person’s “gender identity” can be separated from their biological sex. Aside from being a violation of the Free Speech Clause, it is also a violation of the Free Exercise Clause, as anybody who has religious convictions that differ from HHS’s view on human sexuality would be forced to publicly deny their faith.
