Connect with us

Anti-Gay GOP State Lawmaker Unveils New, More Dangerous Weapon Against LGBT Rights

Published

on

Expert Says Georgia Senator’s First Amendment Defense Act Is ‘RFRA on Steroids’

If 2015 was the year of RFRA madness, 2016 may be all about FADA fever. 

The bad news is, so-called First Amendment Defense Acts (FADAs) are generally worse than Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRAs). In fact, one LGBT legal expert called Georgia’s FADA “RFRA on steroids.” 

This week, Georgia freshman GOP state Sen. Greg Kirk — a former Southern Baptist pastor — introduced a state version of a proposed federal law designed to give virtually every individual and entity — from government employees and contractors to for-profit businesses — a license to discriminate against same-sex couples, even legally-maried ones, and their children. Similar bills have been introduced in at least four other states, Illinois and Oklahoma, Virginia and Washington. 

Kirk, who is in his first term, was elected in 2014 and won the GOP primary by just 222 votes. There was no Democratic challenger.

“The consequences of FADA would be devastating, if upheld,” constitutional law scholar Anthony M. Kreis writes at GeorgiaPol.com. “The fear of discrimination against LGBT persons, women, and others, that stokes opposition to the proposed Religious Freedom Restoration Act is – unlike [with] RFRA — a feature of FADA and not a bug.” 

Kirk’s Senate Bill 284 would prohibit government from “taking discriminatory action” based on a person’s belief that “marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman” or that “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.” 

In other words, SB 284 could allow any “person” — which the bill defines as “any individual, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, firm, enterprise, association, public or private organization of any character, or other legal entity” — to discriminate against gay couples, their children, single parents, unmarried couples, pregnant women and others, based on religion. 

Although some are calling it “the Kim Davis bill,” Kirk maintained at a press conference Thursday SB 284 wouldn’t allow government employees to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

However, Kreis notes that SB 284 doesn’t define “public officer” or “official duties.” Moreover, he writes, the bill would violate free speech and equal protection under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, respectively, because it favors a particular viewpoint and singles out LGBT people. 

“Do not be fooled,” he writes. “FADA is not an accommodation law for religious objectors. It is, however, a blunt tool to browbeat and demean LGBT Georgians, unconventional families, and unmarried individuals deemed morally corrupt.” 

Lambda Legal called Kirk’s bill “divisive” and “dangerous,” saying it would unleash “legal havoc” and effectively treat for-profit businesses like churches. 

“It encourages discrimination, invites litigation, and collides with fundamental rights protected under the US Constitution,” the group said. 

The Human Rights Campaign called SB 284 “despicable” and “reckless,” adding that it “threatens to create a breakdown of state government services.” And Georgia Equality said the FADA “flouts the rule of law.”

“This legislation sets a dangerous precedent — we can’t pick and choose which laws we want to follow based on our personal beliefs,” Georgia Equality wrote. “This bill not only exposes married same-sex couples and their children in Georgia to harm, but it risks imperiling our state’s economy.” 

The bill could cost the state’s economy $1 billion, according to Georgia Equality, which pointed to recent surveys showing damage to Indiana’s business reputation as a result of the state’s passage of a RFRA in 2015. After weeks of intense economic backlash, the Indiana Legislature passed an emergency “fix” clarifying that the RFRA doesn’t sanction anti-LGBT discrimination. 

Kirk claims his bill — which would also nullify local nondiscrimination ordinances — is needed to protect business owners against being “criminalized.” 

Watch Kirk’s press conference below. 

Some responses via Twitter:

 

Image via Facebook

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’: GOP Senator Furious Over Judge’s USAID Ruling

Published

39 minutes ago

on

March 18, 2025

By

A federal judge aimed sharp criticism at the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its de facto leader, Elon Musk, as he ruled on Tuesday afternoon that its shutdown of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), “likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways.”

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang’s ruling, however, Politico reported, “appears to permit the Trump administration to ratify and maintain the draconian cuts — as long as they are ordered by USAID’s official leadership, rather than by Musk or his allies at DOGE.”

Judge Chuang blocked DOGE “from further cuts to the agency,” the Associated Press reported. He also ordered that “email and computer access” be restored “to all employees of USAID, including those who were placed on administrative leave.”

In his damning 68-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang wrote that “the ‘Department of
Government Efficiency,’ or ‘DOGE,’ has sent teams of personnel to numerous federal departments and agencies, taken control of their computer systems, and in many instances, taken the lead in terminating numerous contracts and employees.”

READ MORE: Chief Justice Smacks Down Trump

He charged that “DOGE and its leader, Elon Musk,” have “played a leading role in actions taken to shut down and dismantle” USAID, “which have included permanently closing its headquarters, taking down its website, and engaging in mass terminations of contracts, grants, and personnel.”

Noting that President Trump himself “has identified” Elon Musk as “the leader of DOGE,” Judge Chuang wrote that DOGE “has taken numerous actions without any apparent advanced approval by agency leadership.”

Judge Chuang ruled that Elon Musk’s and DOGE’s “actions taken to shut down USAID on an accelerated basis, including its apparent decision to permanently close USAID headquarters without the approval of a duly appointed USAID Officer, likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways, and that these actions harmed not only Plaintiffs, but also the public interest, because they deprived the public’s elected representatives in Congress of their constitutional authority to decide whether, when, and how to close down an agency created by Congress.”

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) blasted Judge Chuang.

“This is more of your Trump derangement syndrome. This is more of these activist judges,” Senator Blackburn declared. “So here you have a judge who is standing up for wasting taxpayer money. It is not the judge’s money, it is not the court’s money. This is money that hardworking taxpayers have earned and sent to Washington, DC.”

“And if they’re going to decide, they don’t want to pay for Sesame Street in Iraq, or DEI education in another country, or trans surgeries in another country,” she claimed.

READ MORE: Trump Border Czar ‘Doesn’t Care’ About Judges — One Might Make Administration Think Twice

On Saturday, The New York Times in an extensive, interactive report revealed, “An estimated 1,650,000 people could die within a year without American foreign aid for H.I.V. prevention and treatment.”

“An estimated 500,000 people could die within a year without American funding for vaccines,” the report added. ” An estimated 550,000 people could die within a year without American funding for food aid.”

Also, nearly 300,00 could die from Malaria, 310,000 from tuberculosis, the Times reported.

The World Health Organization (WHO has estimated that the USAID shutdown, as THEM reported, “could cause as many as 10 million additional HIV cases and three million HIV-related deaths.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Welcome to Autocracy’: Trump Declaring Biden’s Pardons ‘Void’ Debunked and Denounced

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

Chief Justice Smacks Down Trump

Published

5 hours ago

on

March 18, 2025

By

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has issued a rare, and terse, 31-word statement, seemingly in response to President Donald Trump’s rant calling call for the impeachment of Senior U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who on Saturday ordered two deportation flights to be turned around under a contested law.

The Trump administration, declaring the planes were over international waters, decided the judge’s order was not lawful, and did not order the planes to return home.

Trump lashed out Tuesday, at 9:05 AM, in an unhinged rant, calling Judge Boasberg a “Radical Left Lunatic,” “a troublemaker and agitator,” who “was not elected President” — before calling for his impeachment.

Chief Justice Roberts, who was appointed by President George W. Bush almost 20 years ago, issued a stern rebuke.

READ MORE: Trump Border Czar ‘Doesn’t Care’ About Judges — One Might Make Administration Think Twice

“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” Roberts said in his statement, as first reported by Politico’s Kyle Cheney.

Politico is calling it “the most intense public conflict between Trump and Roberts since 2018, when the chief justice came to the defense of federal judges who’d ruled against Trump policies.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Cheney had reported that the “invective from Trump against Boasberg also is set against the message from Chief Justice Roberts, who warned against efforts by public officials to intimidate judges — including by the threat of impeachment — which could provoke ‘dangerous reactions.'”

Those remarks came from Roberts’ year-end report, during which he lamented, “Public officials certainly have a right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but they should be mindful that intemperance in their statements when it comes to judges may prompt dangerous reactions by others,” as USA Today reported at the time.

“Unfortunately,” the Chief Justice had also said, “not all actors engage in `informed criticism’ or anything remotely resembling it.”

READ MORE: ‘Welcome to Autocracy’: Trump Declaring Biden’s Pardons ‘Void’ Debunked and Denounced

At Trump’s State of the Union earlier this month, political observers were stunned by Trump’s remarks, caught on a hot mic, when he thanked Roberts.

Watch below or at this link:

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

News

Trump Pushes to Impeach ‘Radical Left Lunatic’ Judge in Unhinged Morning Rant

Published

6 hours ago

on

March 18, 2025

By

In a further escalation of his administration’s targeting of the federal judiciary, President Donald Trump posted an unhinged rant Tuesday morning, calling for the impeachment of a U.S. District Court judge—likely James Boasberg—whose orders his legal team had allegedly defied.

Trump did not name him, but Senior U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg had ordered the President’s legal team on Saturday to turn around two planes carrying hundreds of immigrants in the process of being deported under an obscure 1798 wartime-only law.

Politico‘s Kyle Cheney reports that “Trump’s call to impeach Chief Judge Boasberg for a ruling he disagrees with is an escalation of his administration’s increasingly ominous battle with the judiciary.”

The administration’s decision not to follow Judge Boasberg’s order — which Trump officials claim was not valid and therefore, they say, did not constitute defiance — may be leading the country toward a constitutional crisis, according to legal experts.

At 9:05 AM Tuesday, President Trump unleashed his unhinged rant, further stoking the flames of a constitutional crisis.

READ MORE: Trump Border Czar ‘Doesn’t Care’ About Judges — One Might Make Administration Think Twice

“This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President – He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he did WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns, appearing to include a typo.

“I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY,” the President insisted.

Trump continues to claim a “mandate,” but his popular vote win margin ranks about 50th out of 60 presidential elections, and, according to The New York Times, “Trump’s Electoral College Victory Ranks 46th in 58 Elections.”

Trump went on to claim, “I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do.”

“This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

The New York Times reported on Sunday that legal experts had been trying to determine “how close the Trump administration is to open defiance of the Constitution’s system of checks and balances.”

“Trump administration moved one large step closer to a constitutional showdown with the judicial branch of government when airplane-loads of Venezuelan detainees deplaned in El Salvador even though a federal judge had ordered that the planes reverse course and return the detainees to the United States,” the Times reported.

Two days later, cable news networks like MSNBC are currently describing this as a “legal showdown.”

READ MORE: ‘Welcome to Autocracy’: Trump Declaring Biden’s Pardons ‘Void’ Debunked and Denounced

On Monday night, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) told CNN’s Anderson Cooper (video below) that he believes America is on the brink of a constitutional crisis.

“You know, we’ve been, as you pointed out, throwing that term around pretty sloppily in the last two months or so,” Congressman Himes said, “but the definition of a constitutional crisis, of course, is when you have no way to resolve two branches of government warring with each other. And you know what you see exactly what’s happening here. It’s a very interesting moment because, this is what Donald Trump does in life, right?”

“And you see him exploring the threshold of ignoring a court order, knowing because he said so before and because his people know this, that that is very serious business, that that is a constitutional crisis.”

“So they’re throwing every mad legal theory up against the wall, they’re dissembling, they’re taking their time and everything and I’ll tell you, we’ve seen this movie a hundred times before.”

After the President posted his Truth Social rant, The New York Times’ Peter Baker wrote: “Trump declares that it constitutes a high crime and misdemeanor worthy of impeachment for a federal judge to rule against him.”

Watch the video below or at this link:

READ MORE: ‘Sounds Like Putin’: Trump Blasted for Declaring Top News Organizations ‘Illegal’

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.