As Republicans prepare to wreak havoc on all three branches of federal government, human rights activists and lawyers are bracing themselves for what they expect to be an all out assault on LGBTQ rights.
In 2016, more than 200 discriminatory “religious freedom” bills were introduced by conservative lawmakers across the country, and lawyers at the ACLU say that was likely just a warm up act for 2017.
Related: Congressman Says Trump Will Dissolve Federal Protections For LGBTQs
“We expect the volume to continue to rise in 2017,”ACLU Advocacy and Policy Counsel Eunice Rho recently told CNN, “both because we have more conservative state governments than in the past, and also since our side defeated an overwhelming majority of bills in 2016.”
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Rho expects trans rights to be the hardest hit.
“In addition to these bills, we also anticipate an increase in volume of bills targeting transgender people,” she said.
Related: Gay Republican Swears The Party Is Pro-LGBTQ, Despite All Evidence To The Contrary
Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, which operates as the public policy arm for the Southern Baptist Convention, said that, yeah, Rho is absolutely right, he and his henchman are planning to do everything in their power to promote as many religious freedom bills as possible.
“2017 probably will result in many religious liberty bills,” he confirmed to CNN. “That’s because of the erosion of religious freedom protections in recent years. Without adequate protection, freedom of conscience is left up courts they are often hostile to the most basic protections of the First Amendment.”
Moore insisted, however, that the bills aren’t intended to discriminate against LGBTQ people, but rather to save religious freedom from the “tremendous stress” it’s currently under (caused, of course, by LGBTQ people).
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But before you start freaking out too much, James Esseks, director of the ACLU LGBT Project, says to take a take deep breath.
“It’s clear that Mike Pence as VP will be able to push for greater religious exemption measures at the federal level, following up on his pro-exemption and anti-LGBT, anti-woman record in Indiana,” he said, “but there’s no reason to think that the public, business leaders, performers, or sports leagues will be any more receptive to anti-LGBT measures in 2017 than they have been in the past.”
He cautioned: “Vice President-elect Pence should think long and hard before he tries to nationalize this discriminatory, divisive strategy.”
cabe
Is there a lie detector test for people to take to prove they are profoundly religious rather than non-religious bigots that want to discriminate against gay people just for the fun of it?
dwes09
@cabe: Overwhelmingly it is “people of faith” who want to restrict equal protection for gay people. They think it is their God given right to harass sinners. There is little reason for atheists, agnostics or those of normal faith to “discriminate against gay people just for the fun of it”. About as likely as men dressing up as women in the hope of catching a glimpse of prepubescent poon-tang in a public rest room; which is to say not likely to ever happen.
cabe
I hope you are right but as an example, I have heard some Trump supporters at my work who own investment property (I live in Texas) talking about how they like the idea of being able to discriminate against gay people who apply to rent at one of their apartment buildings and I can tell you that these dudes ARE NOT religious at all. I just think it gives a free pass to anyone to discriminate and bigots will take that opportunity.
girldownunder
Still in shock, here in AU, that America voted in Chump!
WTH???
Sluggo2007
Just more proof that religion is pure BS.
Daniel-Reader
Should millions upon millions of LGBT and Allied people really put up with having their human rights not protected while some politicians, lobbyists, and merchants-disguised-as-religious-leaders make money off violating/failing to protect them? North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee already have proven democracy has crashed apart within sections of the USA by politicians out to harm LGBT and Allied Americans.
1EqualityUSA
Do not tolerate being burdened by another’s religious beliefs, no matter how zealous. Know what a dangerous precedence it sets, should the separation between Church and State erode.
everybodywinsyay
If you practice religious beliefs, it is enshrined in Constitution that your rights should not be abridged by the government. We shouldn’t even need religious freedom laws but the crazy Left wants to destroy all religious protections because they believe in nothing and are angry and bitter and want everyone else to be the same as them – angry, bitter and adrift.
1EqualityUSA
If you conduct commerce, your religion stays at the door.
JessPH
@everybodywinsyay: The Constitution does give every American their religious freedom but like all freedoms it has limitations. The Constitution gives you the right to free speech but you cannot use your freedom of speech to lie in court. That is perjury and that is outlawed. Likewise, the Constitution gives you the right to believe in a deity but you cannot use your religious freedom to kill someone as a sacrifice for your religious ritual. That is murder and it is outlawed. Additionally, you cannot use your religious freedom to discriminate against people belonging to certain marginalized groups since there are laws that protect them from discrimination (like the Civil Rights Act of 1965).
DMRX
@everybodywinsyay: Actually…It is enshrined in the Constitution that a person’s rights are limited to the point that they don’t infringe on another person’s rights. To put it simply, as my father put it to me when I was a young child: your right to swing your fist through the air ends at the point that it contacts someone’s face.
Also see: the First Amendment to said constitution (including its clauses ) which are widely interpreted to separate church (religious ideology) and state (government laws).
DMRX
@JessPH: I agreed with you completely until the end part. Unfortunately, there is no federal law against discriminating the marginalized group that is LGBTQ. And it’s so sad that there needs to be one. Just like it was so sad that the Civil Rights Act had to be passed.