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Showing posts with the label Conscience Rights

Biden unveils ominous ‘LGTBQ+ equality’ plan to compel institutions to ‘enforce…advance’ gay ‘rights’

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Former Vice President and current Democrat presidential frontrunner Joe Biden released his official “LGBTQ+ equality” plan this week, a comprehensive document laying out how he would elevate homosexual and transgender “acceptance” above religious liberty and conscience rights if elected to the White House. “As President, Biden will stand with the LGBTQ+ community to ensure America finally lives up to the promise on which it was founded: equality for all,” the plan declares. “He will provide the moral leadership to champion equal rights for all LGBTQ+ people, fight to ensure our laws and institutions protect and enforce their rights, and advance LGBTQ+ equality globally.” First, the plan lists as a “top priority” enacting the so-called  Equality Act , which would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include “sex,” “sexual orientation,” and “gender identity” among expressly recognized “non-discrimination” categories in “public accommodations” (the definition of which would be ...

Trump admin responds to Taylor Swift’s Equality Act petition: bill is ‘filled with poison pills’

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The Trump administration reiterated its opposition to the so-called “Equality Act” Tuesday, responding to a challenge by pop star Taylor Swift in support of the wide-reaching LGBT measure. Swift used her Monday performance at the annual MTV Video Music Awards to promote her Change.org petition supporting the pro-homosexual Equality Act, which she claimed: “basically just says we all deserve equal rights under the law.” She added that its more-than 500,000 signatures “is five times the amount that it would need to warrant a response from the White House.” Fox News notes that the administration is only obligated to address petitions if they gather 100,000 signatures within a 30-day window, but the White House chose to answer questions on the matter anyway. "The Trump Administration absolutely opposes discrimination of any kind and supports the equal treatment of all; however, the House-passed bill in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine p...

Google, Amazon try to stop Texas from passing religious freedom protections

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A coalition of business interests is descending on Texas lawmakers to pressure them to abandon several pieces of pending legislation that would protect various professionals in the state from being forced to engage in practices that violate their consciences on issues such as abortion and sexuality. The Texas Legislature is currently considering a handful of religious-freedom bills, the Austin American-Statesman reports. They would bar state licensing agencies from limiting professionals’ ability to act on a “sincerely held religious belief,” let medical professionals refuse to provide non-emergency treatments such as abortions, let Texans choose not to provide goods, services, or participation to same-sex “weddings,” let judges refuse to perform “marriages” that conflict with their religious beliefs, protect businesses’ right to segregate bathrooms based on biological sex, and allow religious groups including university organizations limit hiring, renting, or membership to indi...

Virginia school board fires teacher who refused to call female student ‘he’ or ‘him’

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A school board in the Virginia town of West Point has unanimously voted to fire a high school French teacher who respectfully refused to refer to a female gender-confused student as male, despite the vocal support of other students. This school year, one of Peter Vlaming’s students at West Point High School came back having “transitioned” to living as a boy over the summer, and wanted to be recognized as such. Vlaming agreed to use the masculine name she had chosen and attempted to avoid referring to her with female pronouns, but said his Christian faith prevented him from calling a girl “he” or “him.” Nevertheless, the girl says the compromise made her feel “singled out,” and her family complained to the administration, which  placed him on administrative leave . At Vlaming’s request, the West Point School Board held a four-hour hearing Thursday evening to consider the matter. Before an overflow crowd containing many students and parents who supported the embattled tea...

Jack Phillips back in court as Colorado demands he bake ‘gender-transition’ cake

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Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips’  June 4 victory  at the U.S. Supreme Court failed to convince the state of Colorado to let him operate in accordance with his conscience, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)  announced  Wednesday. Earlier this summer, the nation’s highest court ruled 7-2 that Colorado officials had discriminated against his religious beliefs while trying to force him to bake a cake for a same-sex “wedding.” On June 26, the  Denver Post   reported  that Autumn Scardina filed a complaint against Phillips for declining to bake a cake that would be pink on the inside and blue on the outside, to celebrate his “transition” from male to female. Two days later, Colorado Civil Rights Division (CCRD) director Aubrey Elenis wrote a letter concluding there was probable cause to conclude Phillips had unlawfully denied Scardina “equal enjoyment of a place of public accommodation.” It ordered the two to enter compulsory mediation to ...

New law: Christian adoption agencies won’t be forced to give kids to gay couples in Texas

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that protects Christian adoption agencies from being forced to place children in homosexual -led households that intentionally deny the child a mother or a father. HB 3859 , the Freedom to Serve Children Act, allows faith-based adoption and foster care organizations to receive state funding without fear of legal retribution for declining to place children in homosexual-led households. Other conscience objections such as placing children with single or divorced adults are also covered. "We are very grateful to Governor Abbott for signing HB 3859, and for all of the hard work of Rep. James Frank and Senator Charles Perry to pass this bill that will allow faith-based foster care and adoption agencies in Texas to serve the children of Texas while maintaining our faith teachings," said Jennifer Carr Allmon, executive director of the  Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops . "Our ministries throughout the state are active...