The Do No Harm Act Protects Religious Freedom And Equal Protection Under Law
Senators Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) today introduced the Do No Harm Act in the U.S. Senate. The bill honors two core American values: religious freedom and equal protection of the law. And it couldn’t be more important right now.
Trump’s New ‘Religious Freedom’ Order Actually Undermines That Principle
In honor of the National Day of Prayer, President Donald Trump, with his Evangelical Advisory Board by his side, held a ceremony in the Rose Garden and signed an “Executive Order on the Establishment of a White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative.” Under the guise of religious freedom, this executive order further entrenches the administration’s policies to allow religion to discriminate.
Opposition To Georgia’s Anti-LGBTQ Adoption Bill SB 375 Is Growing
Georgia Adoption Bill Harms Children In The Name Of ‘Religious Freedom'
In Georgia, there are more than 14,000 children in foster care. Tomorrow morning at 8:00am, legislators there will debate a bill that would make it even harder for these children to find safe, stable, and loving homes.
The Trump Administration Plans To Allow Religion-Based Discrimination In Your Healthcare
The Trump Administration today is expected release yet another new rule aimed at allowing religion to be used to discriminate against women and LGBTQ people.
HHS Asked The Public’s Advice On Using Religion To Discriminate—And We Said It’s A Bad Idea
New Trump Administration Policies Are A Blueprint For Using Religion To Discriminate
From AU's Wall of Separation blog:
Last Friday, the Trump Administration announced major policy changes that significantly weaken the principle of church-state separation and serve as a blueprint for using religion to discriminate, especially against women and LGBTQ people.
The two new rules that offer organizations and corporations the right to deny women insurance coverage for contraception made the news. Less coverage was given to the Department of Justice’s 25-page guidance titled, “Federal Law Protections for Religious Liberty.” This guidance contains extreme interpretations of the law in an effort to give a greenlight to religious exemptions, regardless of how an exemption would affect other people or the public interest.
Religious freedom is a fundamental value, but it does not allow religion to be used as an excuse to harm other people.
Here are just a few of the most troubling ways the guidance could be used:
- People and corporations may cite religion as an excuse to ignore nondiscrimination laws that protect women and LGBTQ people.
- Taxpayer-funded organizations can claim a right to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion. They can also use a religious litmus test to decide whom they will serve within the government-funded social service program and which services they will provide, even if it conflicts with the terms of the government grant or contract.
- The government will give religious exemptions to businesses and government employees, even if the result is taking away a right or benefit the law guarantees to someone else.
In other words, the guidance allows taxpayer-funded organizations, corporations, and individuals to use religion as a trump card to almost any law.
This guidance misses the mark: Our laws should be a shield to protect religious freedom and not a sword to harm others. Our country is strongest when we are all free to believe or not, as we see fit, and to practice our faith without hurting others.
Trump's Executive Order Continues The Assault On Religious Freedom
Yesterday, during his National Day of Prayer ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, President Donald Trump continued his assault on religious freedom by signing an executive order. In a speech that reads more like a fake viral email than a presidential address, Donald Trump substituted showmanship for sincerity: While claiming to protect religious liberty, he trampled it.
A Focus On: Georgia's Dangerous Adoption Bill
After the backlash Georgia faced last year when the legislature attempted to allow taxpayer-funded discrimination, it’s surprising that the state senate is willing to go down this road again. And even shocking that they made the target of discrimination youth who need adoptive and foster homes and the parents who want open their hearts to them.
An Appalling Anti-LGBTQ Trump Order May Be Coming. You Can Help AU Stop It.
We will continue to fight for our neighbors— LGBTQ people, women, religious minorities, non-theists and anyone who faces discrimination based on someone else’s religious beliefs. But we need your help too. You need to contact the White House and tell the President to reject any executive order that sanctions discrimination in the name of religion.
Trump’s High Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch: Another Scalia On Church-State Issues
Will The LGBTQ Community Be Trump’s Next Target?
Is Discrimination The Price We’ll Pay For Trump’s HHS Secretary?
In Congress, The Fight Against Discrimination Is Now
The Russell Amendment Is The Worst Of The Bush Faith-Based Initiative
For decades, faith-based organizations have partnered with the federal government to perform secular social services, provided that they did not discriminate in hiring within those federally funded programs. The Russell Amendment, a provision attached to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), seeks to turn that concept on its head.
Tell Congress To Strike Taxpayer-Funded Discrimination From The NDAA
Now is your chance to speak out against a provision that would authorize taxpayer-funded employment discrimination. You can make a difference by telling your Senator to oppose taxpayer-funded discrimination and remove this provision from the bill.
Legislators Need to Strip Taxpayer-Funded Discrimination from Defense Bill
A few months ago, some members of the U.S. House snuck a provision into their version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would authorize taxpayer-funded discrimination in every single federal contract and grant issued by the federal government, whether defense related or not. Now, a group of bipartisan Representatives and Senators are meeting to resolve the issue.
Not One, But Three: All Versions Of FADA Sanction Discrimination In The Name Of "Religious Liberty"
Legislative Blowback: One Year Later, States Are Trying To Undermine The Marriage Equality Ruling
Yesterday we celebrated the one-year anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark Supreme Court decision that made marriage equality the law of the land. Today we want to remind you that there’s still much work to do.