Would ‘Protect’ Those With ‘Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs’ That Marriage Is Between One Man and One Woman
House Republicans on the powerful Oversight & Government Reform Committee are “working towards” holding a hearing on a sweeping anti-gay “religious freedom” bill to provide legal protection for those who oppose same-sex marriage and those who oppose having sex outside of man-woman marriage. The bills – one in the House, one in the Senate – were introduced just days before the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic Obergefell ruling on marriage, and filed by two conservative Republicans, Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho and Senator Mike Lee of Utah.
The First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) would ensure that the Federal Government does not take “any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction 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, and for other purposes.”
A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee “said the panel is ‘working towards a hearing’ on the legislation,” Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade, citing an email conversation, reported this week. He adds, “no date has been scheduled.”
Despite the extreme backlash North Carolina is experiencing over its anti-LGBT bill HB2, and despite backlash in other states that have enacted religious anti-LGBT legislation this year, including Mississippi and Tennessee, Republican lawmakers seem resolved to continue their war on gay people.
The bills have had zero activity since first introduced last June. But, as NCRM reported last week, the National Organization For Marriage (NOM) has been advocating to move the bills forward. The faith-based nonprofit has a “Fax for FADA” campaign NOM claims “is making a big impact.” While the anti-gay group has not released any statistics on how many faxed they have sent, a corresponding petitions currently says it has 3886 signatures, just about 350 more than it did one week ago today.
Johnson notes the House Oversight Committee “is packed with conservative Republicans, including Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.), who recently attached to a major defense spending bill an amendment that would undermine President Obama’s executive order prohibiting anti-LGBT workplace discrimination among federal contractors.” That amendment, attached to the House National Defense Authorization Act, passed 33-29.Â
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Image by Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr and a CC license