A Christian Country That Supports Discrimination?
Dear Friend,
On June 12, 2016, a horrible shooting against our LGBTQ friends and family took place in Orlando. Instead of standing with the LGBTQ community, Congress now wants to take away their right to live free from discrimination.
I couldn’t imagine Congress hitting a new low, but it did. Yesterday, exactly one month since the Orlando shootings, religious conservatives in Congress held a hearing on a bill to strengthen so-called “religious freedom.” To them, “religious freedom” is just another way of saying “the ability to discriminate against LGBTQ people without consequence.”
Don’t be fooled by the name: the First Amendment Defense Act seeks to protect the tax exempt statuses and other benefits like federal grants that churches and religiously affiliated organizations receive, while allowing those organizations to discriminate against the very tax payers who fund this privilege.
At the hearing, speaking in support of this bill and LGBTQ discrimination, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) had the audacity to claim that that America is “a Christian country established very clearly on Judeo-Christian values.” As if LGBTQ discrimination is OK as long as it’s done by Christians!
Religiously motivated discrimination is bad enough, but it’s even worse when supported financially and legally with your taxpayer dollars. We simply can’t allow the Religious Right to reverse the important gains that were recently achieved for the LGBTQ community.
I greatly appreciate your time in taking action. Thank you for standing up against religiously motivated discrimination.
Sincerely,
Roy Speckhardt
Executive Director
The American Humanist Association
The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of Humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of Humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
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