A Wyoming lawmaker who is also a pastor is sponsoring a bill that would allow anyone to discriminate against gay people in order to not violate their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
As marriage equality has come to three dozen states and over 70 percent of Americans live where same-sex couples can marry, anti-gay Republican lawmakers are working hard to ensure people of faith are able to continue to legally discriminate against LGBT people.Â
The latest attempt comes from Wyoming, whose most-famous family is that of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who, ironically has a daughter in a same-sex marriage.
Pastor Nathan Winters, who is also State Representative Nathan Winters, is sponsoring the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which is designed to enable Christians and other people of faith to circumvent the law so they don’t violate their religious beliefs or “moral conscience.”
The bill would allow people to refuse to perform any act “because the person believes the act to be evil or wrong.”Â
Rep. Winters tells the Casper Star-Tribune that the bill applies in all circumstances, “although he couldn’t provide any examples outside of gay marriage.”
The bill will ensure Wyoming citizens are “free from oppression of government if they choose to exercise freedom of conscience,” he said.
The bill, HB 83, would allow clerks to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and would allow anyone to refuse service to anyone without fear of the long arm of the law punishing them.Â
The bill is extremely broad. It states that government “shall not burden a person’s right to the exercise of religion or moral conscience, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.”
In fact, HB 83 is so broad it states it “shall be liberally construed in favor of the broad interpretation of the exercise of religious and moral conscience to the maximum extent permitted by this act and the Wyoming constitution and the United States constitution.”
Pastor Winters’ church website says it believes in creationism, the rapture, and adheres to an evangelical interpretation of the bible known as Dispensationalism.
Winters received a score of 92 percent from the NRA and has sponsored a myriad of pro-gun bills, including one that “Prohibits the Enforcement of Federal Firearm Regulations” and another that “Authorizes the Carrying of Firearms on School Property.”
Winters in 2013 voted against a bill that “Authorizes Same-Sex Civil Unions.”
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