Tag Archives: RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION

Freedom to Work Shills It’s Dangerous Version of ENDA On The Coattails of Obama’s Executive Order‏

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Freedom to work

 

President Obama spoke to BIG money LGBT donors at a Democratic National Committee gala in New York City on Tuesday night only one day after the White House announced that Obama plans to sign the executive order that would bar federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers and reminding the deep pocketed attendees of the accomplishments over the course of his administration and saying that much more needed to be done.

Speaking onstage at Gotham Hall before an American flag, Obama received a prolonged standing ovation when he said he told his staff to prepare an executive order that would bar federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers.

“We don’t benefit as a country or an economy — businesses don’t benefit if they’re leaving talent off the field,” Obama said. “And that’s why I’ve directed my staff to prepare for my signature, an executive order prohibiting discrimination by federal contractors on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity…Because in the United States of America, who you are and who you love shouldn’t be a fireable offense.”

But Obama said efforts must continue to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, legislation that would bar discrimination among public and private employers, not just federal contractors. The executive order he plans to sign doesn’t “reach everyone that needs to be reached,” Obama said.

“It would be better, by the way, if Congress passed a more comprehensive law that didn’t just cover federal contractors,” Obama said. “And we need to keep working on that, so don’t take the pressure off Congress.”

But many questions remain about the planned executive order, such as whether it’ll contain a religious exemption like the very broad and much criticized religious exemption crafted by Tico Almeida and Freedom to Work in the current version of ENDA that if passed, would write LGBT discrimination into law by allowing businesses and groups who claim they part of a religious movement the right to refuse to hire and terminate LGBT employees without any legal repercussions.

In an interview with the Washington Blade Almeida took the opportunity to shill his dangerous version of ENDA.

“Those were the strongest and most thorough remarks I’ve ever heard from President Obama in support of ENDA,” said last nights speech “The president very much deserved the strong applause he received when he discussed the upcoming executive order, and he was right to say that we must all keep the pressure on Congress.”

Almeida and Freedom to Work it seems is still pushing its dangerous version of ENDA of which Almeida admitted last year at Netroots Nation 2013 in San Jose that the very open religious exemption was specifically written  “just to get ENDA passed’.   Thankfully it has not but has instead drawn the ire and condemnation of many LGBT activists and organizations.

Still many questions remain about the Presidents planned Executive Order, such as whether or not it will indeed contain its own religious exemption.

A meeting is planned at the White House on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. between administration officials and LGBT advocates to discuss the planned LGBT non-discrimination order, but no other information was given

Lets just hope that Tico Almeida and Freedom to Work isn’t one of the “advocates” or groups invited to attend.

Kentucky Baptist Convention Starves Children To Ensure Religious Exemption Written Into LGBT Equality Ordinance

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Fuck You!

 

The Danville Kentucky City Commission has altered a proposed gay rights ordinance as to exempt religious groups from following the law and thus writing in legal discrimination into law after a Baptist-affiliated organization threatened to leave the city if passed in its original form.

At the commission’s meeting last month, an attorney for Sunrise Children’s Services said it would move its child care center out of Danville if the ordinance did not include an exemption. A move that was orchestrated by the Kentucky Baptist Convention who blacklisted the agency for a short time late last year.

The trouble started with  Sunrise’s then-president and CEO, Bill Smithwick, who suggested that the group end its ban on hiring gay people. Smithwick reasoned that, with LGBT nondiscrimination legislation on the horizon, Sunrise’s anti-gay policies could cause the charity to lose its taxpayer funding, which accounts for about 85 percent of its operating budget.  Kentucky’s Baptist community, however, wasn’t so enthusiastic. And as soon as Smithwick introduced the proposal, the Kentucky Baptist Convention encouraged its affiliates to blacklist Sunrise and hold back donations until it abandoned its proposed nondiscrimination policy. Church donors across the state immediately began withholding their usual contributions, refusing to donate a penny to an organization that might hire openly gay people.

Sunrise relented and went back to its discriminatory practices after the blacklisting caused a major funding shortfall for the organization.

Then at the Danville City commission’s meeting last month the Kentucky Baptist Convention used the child care services organization as a pawn in a power play when the attorney for Sunrise Children’s Services said it would move its child care center out of Danville if the ordinance did not include an religious exemption because it would lose funding once again from the Baptists.

The Danville City Commission changed the proposed ordinance on Tuesday. The commission voted 3-2 in favor of the revised ordinance on its first reading Tuesday.

The commission will vote on a second reading next month

How “Christian” of the Kentucky Baptist to threaten to starve children in order to able to remain bigoted against the LGBT community.

Michelangelo Signorile: Remove The Religious Exemption From ENDA And Stop Asking For Crumbs

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Mike Signorelli

 

“The fact that ENDA is unlikely to get a vote in the House gives us a chance to make sure the religious exemption comes out of this bill. That may make it harder to get it passed, and it may take a lot longer, but so be it. There are no shortcuts or bargains on civil rights. And quite honestly, when you ask for crumbs from the outset, both your friends and your enemies don’t take you very seriously. We still need full protections in employment, housing and public accommodations, and none should include any religious exemptions. We need to stop viewing the ENDA vote this week as a sign of how far we’ve come — as much of the hyped-up media has been doing — and instead view it as a sign of how much further we need to go.” – Michelangelo Signorile, standing up as any proud LGBT American would against the ridiculously broad religious exemptions that makes the current version of The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)which is about to go to debate and vote in the Senate virtually worthless.

TESTIFY BROTHER!