Overwhelming Support for Anti-LGBT Discrimination
The Republican National Committee’s platform committee on Monday passed a wide swath of anti-LGBT amendments that were even more extreme than many of their own members had anticipated. Among them was a vote for an amendment calling for the First Amendment Defense Act to become law. FADA, as the bill in Congress is called, coincidentally is the subject of a hearing by the powerful House Oversight committee Tuesday morning at 10 AM.
The Amendment was easily passed by the GOP platform committee. AÂ Family Research Council vice president tweeted the news:
The legislation is a so-called “religious freedom” bill that would give any person, along with most companies and corporations the right to discriminate against LGBT people, especially same-sex couples, if they say the have a deeply-held religious belief against LGBT people.Â
Drafted in response to the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage ruling, the First Amendment Defense Act would also gut protections LGBT people and same-sex couples have. It would allow employers to deny spousal and parental rights, including those given under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. It would allow non-profits and even government contractors the right to discriminate against anyone who is LGBT, if not doing so would violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.
Along with passing the amendment calling for FADA to become law, the GOP platform committee passed a plank that effectively says children raised in a “traditional” family are better off than children raised by same-sex parents or single parents.
Subcommittees voted for amendments that call for to the Bible being taught in schools and voted for transgender people to use the restroom of the gender they were assigned at birth. The full platform committee voted to keep a call for a ban on same-sex marriage in their 2016 national platform, and voted to support anti-LGBT conversion therapy. They also voted to define marriage the union of one man and one woman, only.Â