In case you were wondering how far those “thoughts and prayers” after the Orlando shooting were going to get anyone, here’s your answer: one month after the massacre, Congress is holding a hearing on just how many LGBT rights they ought to abridge.
At issue is a bill called the “First Amendment Defense Act,” which in typical governmental fashion is named for the thing it does not actually do. FADA would actually attack the First Amendment by elevating certain religious beliefs (namely, that gays are gross) above all others. It’s basically what Kim Davis was trying to do, except on a national level — in other words, it would create Kim Davises all over the country, which is why you can think of the bill as a sort of “Kim Davis Cloning Act.”
Obviously, this is unconstitutional; a judge in Mississippi recently held that a state law that did something similar was completely against the law.
But that hasn’t stopped groups like the National Organization for Marriage from paying lawmakers to hold hearings on the bill, so that’s what we’re wasting time with today. A bunch of Republicans have pushed the FADA to a hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
How about we take this to the next level?
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What they’re trying to do is almost identical to what happened after the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. Back then, bigots claimed that their religious beliefs required racial discrimination, and filed lawsuits to preserve whites-only lunch counters. On another occasion, a Christian school tried to defend its policy of paying women less because of their religious belief that men are superior to women. There is a one-to-one comparison to the florists and bakers and photographers seeking to elevate their bigotry today.
This is one of the last hurrahs of bigots, though, so don’t worry too much about how far this bill will go. They’re quickly losing all of their support, and more importantly all of their funding. Without money, these groups won’t be able to afford to influence lawmakers, so within a few years all of this will be an annoying memory.
Kangol
Not “Congress,” but the GOP in Congress. Same w/ their election platform. But hey, they have white suprem@cist Donald Trump as their standard bearer, so it’s all good, right?
Xzamilio
And who’s fault is that? I said this crap during the mid-elections and I’ll say it now: you have no one to blame but yourselves for not getting out there and voting, because the majority of America is in line with liberal principles like liberties and freedoms for LGBT individuals, reproductive rights for women, etc. And people will think that Trump is too batshit to get the presidency like half the nuts that were running during the mid-terms, and we’ll get complacent again.
Creamsicle
Can this article include a list of the specific members of Congress who are entertaining this proposed act? That would give concerned constituents some kind of guidance for what they can do to call out this blatant hypocrisy.
Daniel-Reader
What a sad, sad world.
Paco
Did people honestly expect things to not return to business as usual for the Republicans after the Orlando tragedy? They didn’t even skip a beat on continuing the effort to push these bills of bigotry.
Fit-N-Lean
Another example why it’s important to make your vote and voice heard and counted this November. Better yet encourage your friends to get out and vote or registered to vote. It’s long overdue to vote these anti-LGBT members in Congress and Senate out of office. Never underestimate these anti-LGBT organizations and their tactics to support and fund legislation at all levels of government, local, state and federal – under the guise of freedom of religion banner.
Shame on you Queerty for telling readers “not to worry too much how far this bill will go….” The message taken from this story should of been – get out and vote come this November – Your vote does count.
gayhope1990
The Christian love…
DCguy
Where are the usual Log Cabin Trolls coming in and trying to change the subject by yelling about Hillary’s pantsuit or something?
Maybe staying away because this one is so blatant an attack that they are going to stay quiet, pretend this post never happened, and then go back to shilling for the GOP and claiming they aren’t anti-lgbt when it has moved to page 2?
1EqualityUSA
I want a huge, all encompassing, national rebuke of everything Republican. Vote blue. The Supreme Court justices serve for life.