Government Should Protect the Civil Rights and Religious Freedom of All The U.S. Supreme Court today extended federal employment protection to LGBT employees in a…
**STATEMENT** The Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance Endorses the Fairness for All Bill December 6, 2019 (WASHINGTON, DC) – The Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance supports the…
The House of Representatives passed the Equality Act on May 17, 2019, to add to federal civil rights law new prohibitions on discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as other protections. As Stanley Carlson-Thies points out, the Act is unlikely to be taken up by the Senate. This is good news because the Equality Act as drafted and passed would have multiple negative consequences for religious freedom. The article notes major religious freedom critiques, including denominational and other voices proposing a “fairness for all” alternative that would simultaneously protect LGBT and religious rights.
The Equality Act, which would add to federal civil rights laws new prohibitions of discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex, was introduced into the House of Representatives on March 13. Supporters of the Equality Act claim that it protects religious freedom, but in fact it would severely constrain many faith-based organizations and persons of faith who simply desire to live by their convictions about human sexuality and marriage without harming others. In this article, Stanley Carlson-Thies presents the Fairness for All framework as a new and better way to protect both LGBT people and religious freedom.