The church parking tax imposed on religious and secular nonprofits as part of the 2017 tax reform law was repealed in December 2019. The repeal is not only important for relieving a financial and administrative burden on these community-serving organizations, but even more so for restoring the historic and constitutional independence of primary religious institutions from governmental pressures.
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.