(This post is from July 2015. As you might imagine, this bill didn’t survive…but it’s important because I believe it to be indicative of the directions Republicans want to take this country. If you think this wouldn’t happen under President Donald Trump, you’re kidding yourself.)
WASHINGTON — In wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage, Republicans are pushing legislation that aims to protect Americans who oppose these unions on religious grounds. But critics say the language is so broad, the bill creates a license to discriminate that would let employers fire women for getting pregnant outside of wedlock. The First Amendment Defense Act prohibits the federal government from taking discriminatory action against a person — which is defined to include for-profit corporations — acting in accordance with a religious belief that favors so-called traditional marriage. This means the feds can’t revoke a nonprofit’s tax-exempt status or end a company’s federal contract over this issue.
I don’t know about you, but I’m fascinated by the things Republicans feel compelled to “defend.” I was not aware of a clear and present danger facing the free exercise of 1st Amendment rights, but apparent the good Conservative defenders of all that’s good and holy are privy to inside information we mere mortals aren’t allowed access to.
Isn’t it interesting that whenever Republicans feel the need to “defend” something, it too often means elevating the rights and sensitive petty sensibilities of those who support them over others? In this case, “defending” the 1st Amendment mean giving the right to discriminate based solely on one’s “religious beliefs” the force of law.
Never mind that said discrimination may have no basis in Scripture or the teachings of Jesus Christ. Conservative Christians believe their prejudices to be sanctioned by God Almighty; therefore they can’t be bound by the laws of mere men.
Except that the First Amendment Defense Act has nothing to do with protecting the free speech rights of Americans…or their right to freely practice the religion of their choice. It’s about Conservative White Christians forcing ALL Americans to live by their narrow moral/theological/ideological framework. “Defending” the 1st Amendment is merely a smoke screen.
The bill specifically protects those who believe that marriage is between “one man and one woman” or that “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.” Ian Thompson, a legislative representative at the American Civil Liberties Union, said that in addition to targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the bill “clearly encompasses discrimination against single mothers” and would hobble the ability of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal body that protects women from sex-based discrimination, to act.
More specifically, this bill is about employers being allowed to dictate aspects of and set standards of conduct for their employees’ private lives. It’s about employees being forced to live by rules that would force them to conform to the expectations and prejudices of their employers. It’s not about “religious freedom;” it’s neither “religious,” nor does it have anything at all to do with “freedom.” It’s about Conservative Christians creating legislation allowing those like them to impose their narrow, intolerant morality on all Americans.
There’s no “defense” of the 1st Amendment contained (or even implied) in this bill…unless you consider giving cherry-picked theology and religious intolerance the force of law to be “defending freedom.”
This scenario isn’t merely hypothetical. There are a number of recent cases where religious schools have fired unwed teachers for becoming pregnant. A Montana Catholic school teacher who was fired for having a baby out of wedlock, for example, filed a discrimination charge last year with the EEOC. While the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized a ministerial exception to employment discrimination laws, that exception is somewhat limited, not necessarily covering educators employed by Catholic schools who teach about exclusively secular subjects.
The First Amendment Defense Act is nothing of the sort. It’s a thinly-veiled attempt to legalize religiously sanctioned discrimination, sexism, and homophobia, misogyny. It’s intended to enshrine Conservative White Christian males as the sole owners and proprietors of America, arbiters of what’s deemed good, correct, and moral.
If you think Republicans won’t head even further down this road if Donald Trump wins in November, you clearly haven’t been paying attention.
