Democrats on Capitol Hill are moving forward with legislation that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal civil rights law.
If signed into law, the Equality Act would ban discrimination against LGBT people in employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, education, federal programs and credit.
And it would effectively obliterate the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. That law stops the government from encroaching on a person’s religious liberty.
The Equality Act would completely eliminate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — putting a great big bulls eye on every house of worship in the nation.
“This is extremely dangerous and I don’t think people realize how bad it is,” Family Research Council’s Travis Weber said on the Todd Starnes Radio Show.
The law could, I stress could, force churches to be opened up as public accommodations to host events and other celebrations against their conscience.
Several hundred pastors have already signed a letter written by Family Research Council denouncing the legislation. Click here to add your name to the letter.
Weber told Starnes the Equality Act would not only gut religious liberty, it would also target biological women.
“It should be renamed the ‘Inequality Act’,” Weber said. “When you actually dig beneath the surface and see what it does to women, to children, to families across America (and) what it does to religious freedom – it’s actually incredibly unequal.”
Weber said the Equality Act would force primarily women and girls in sporting competitions to compete against men who identify as women. They would also be forced to share locker rooms and showers with transgender individuals.”
“It forces them to violate their privacy and be in the same spaces as biological men,” Weber said. “It just obliterates the distinctions between male and female.”
American Family Association warned that the legislation would impact business owners, employees and customers:
- Female business owners, customers, and employees would then be forced to share their privacy in restrooms and dressing rooms with men who claim to be women.
- Health care providers and professionals would be forced to perform gender transition procedures (sex changes) and provide medical services (hormone therapy) that would violate their moral and religious convictions.
- Amusement parks, recreation centers, skating rinks, and daycare centers, etc. will be forced to employ people whose values on sexuality deviates from those of the employer.
- Adoption and foster care agencies will be forced to place children into same sex households and into homes of individuals suffering from gender confusion.
- College and professional sports stadiums would be required to open its restrooms to either sex.
“This is a devastating blow to religious freedom and to the sanctity of America,” Pat Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network. “If you want to bring the judgment of God on this nation, you just keep this stuff up.”
The House is expected to pass the legislation with some Republican votes. It’s unclear what will happen in the Senate and the White House stopped short of saying the president would veto.
So that means you need to light up the phones on Capitol Hill and the White House. Call your elected leaders at 202.224.3121.
