Louisiana gov. will rescind order protecting conscience on gay ‘marriage’: spokesperson
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| English: Governor Bobby Jindal at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, - A spokesperson for Democratic Governor John Edwards says religious liberty
protections enacted under Edwards' predecessor will be reversed "in the
near future."
The same spokesperson said Edwards is considering a religious
exemption in a pending "non-discrimination" executive order that
would protect the religious liberty of business owners, religiously-affiliated
organizations, and other groups and individuals with sincerely held religious
beliefs about marriage and sexuality.
According to Deadline, Edwards press secretary Shauna Sanford
told the site that the governor "will issue the executive order, but it is
in the drafting stage. As far as Jindal’s religious liberty order, the governor
intends to rescind it in the near future.”
Last year, then-Gov. Bobby Jindal signed an Executive Order to
replace legislation that was halted in the state legislature. The bill was
intended to protect the religious liberty of those who believe marriage is
between a man and a woman.
According to the order, "All departments, commissions,
boards, agencies, and political subdivisions of the state are authorized and
directed to comply with the restrictions placed upon government action in the
Preservation of Religious Freedom Act and, including more specifically, on the
basis that such person acts in accordance with his religious belief that
marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one
woman."
The order declares that government agencies "shall take no
adverse action to" affect a person's tax status, professional status --
including, but not limited to, receiving government grants, loans, licenses, or
the ability to be hired -- or state benefits.
In December, Edwards promised to rescind the Executive Order.
Asked about Edwards' plans to protect religious liberty through
his office and that of his state's Attorney General, Sanford said, "In
terms of what he will instruct the Attorney General's office to do is follow
the law. The governor does not want anyone to be forced to do anything they
don't want to do, within the confines of the law."
"He is going to rescind that order, as he mentioned months
ago, and he is going to issue an Executive Order that state contractors have a
non-discrimination clause because he does not believe that it is right for
anyone to be discriminated against because of their race, their gender, their
sexual orientation. He believes in fairness."
Asked to clarify whether Edwards would support so-called
"non-discrimination" laws that have led to lawsuits against business
owners and others in several states, Sanford said that "the governor is
for equal protection for everyone within the confines of the law. He is
certainly not seeking to impose anything on anyone that does not fall within
the scope of the law. So he is working in that effort to make certain that no
one is discriminated against because of differences, and will continue to
operate within confines of the law, even for those people who perhaps have
different opinions about it [marriage]."
A religious exemption "is in the talks of inclusion, but
we're working on that," said Sanford.
While his office declined to directly respond to Edwards'
rescission, Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry addressed religious liberty
in a speech last week.
“John Adams said, ‘Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty,
but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon
which freedom can securely stand,'" said Landry. "I share the
American founders’ belief in the importance of religious liberty and freedom of
conscience....Our Founding Fathers early on recognized that religious freedom
is a natural right that no government can deny, and they enshrined their belief
in the First Amendment to our Constitution."
"Our liberty today is under assault from unelected judicial
activists determined to subvert the moral foundations upon which our great
State and nation were built. I will defend religious freedom, protect the
sanctity of life, and support family values.”
