A Teller County religious organization is suing Gov. Jared Polis and the head of the state’s health department for “arbitrarily imposed” capacity limitations on their gatherings due the COVID-19 pandemic.

Andrew Wommack Ministries, Inc. alleged in its Sept. 28 complaint that “while the Governor has unilaterally and significantly restricted the number of individuals permitted to assemble or participate in AWMI’s religious activities, he has excused from such restrictions untold thousands of protesters who have gathered all throughout Colorado cities, with no social distancing, and with no threat of criminal or legal sanction.”

The organization was responsible for a prior outbreak of COVID-19 that killed one attendee. In July, Colorado’s attorney general sent a cease-and-desist order to AMWI for holding a bible conference in violation of the 175-person capacity limit — a number the lawsuit called “draconian” given the size of the facility. Twenty-four staff members tested positive for the disease, as did 16 attendees, and several individuals were noted as contracting probable cases of COVID-19 from the event.

The Denver Post reports that the legal action in U.S. District Court comes prior to a planned pastor conference at the church on Oct. 5. The governor’s office and Department of Public Health and Environment did not respond to a request for comment from the paper.

AWMI, based in Woodland Park, seeks a temporary restraining order allowing them to host any number of people, and argue several violations of their constitutional rights. Under the First Amendment, the church alleges an abridgment of their rights to assembly, freedom of speech and free exercise of religion. The church also claims a violation of equal protection under the laws by treating churches dissimilarly from other businesses and from protests.

The federal complaint repeatedly referred to a tolerance for large-scale, racial-justice protests that took place in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in May.

“The Governor cannot claim a compelling, legitimate, or even rational interest in his orders when he has commended and excused mass gatherings of thousands of protesters to engage in the very activity he claims poses a massive danger to Colorado if it takes place in  AWMI’s events, ministries, and facilities,” AWMI wrote.

Available evidence suggests that the outdoors protests, in which many participants wore masks, did not contribute to an increase in spread for the novel coronavirus.