Tag Archives: RFRA

Democrats Re-Introduce The “Do No Harm Act” to Amend "The Religious Freedom Restoration Act"

Democrats Re-Introduce The “Do No Harm Act” to Amend “The Religious Freedom Restoration Act”

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The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed by Congress in 1993 after a controversial Supreme Court decision in 1990 about two American Indians who worked as private drug rehab counselors and ingested peyote as part of religious ceremonies conducted by the Native American Church, and they were subsequently fired.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the firing.

Because of this case a near unanimous Congress passed RFRA in 1993 and President Bill Clinton signed the law saying that “governments should not substantially burden religious exercise without compelling justification” and “the compelling interest test as set forth in prior Federal court rulings is a workable test for striking sensible balances between religious liberty and competing prior governmental interests.”

Reps. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) in the House and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) in the Senate have introduced the “Do No Harm Act.” If passed, RFRA could still be used to protect religious freedoms, but it couldn’t be used as a weapon against others:

The Do No Harm Act would clarify that no one can seek religious exemption from laws guaranteeing fundamental civil and legal rights. Originally introduced in response to the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores decision that made it possible for corporations to deny health care to female employees, the legislation would also overturn the Trump Administration’s recent waiver allowing child welfare agencies in South Carolina to discriminate against LGBTQ individuals and different religions.

“We cannot be equal or free if our government grants select Americans a license to discriminate against their neighbors under the guise of religious freedom,” said Congressman Kennedy. “By passing the Do No Harm Act, we can reestablish the sacred balance between religious liberty and the personal liberties of those who have too often had their civil rights bargained away. I’m proud to stand with Congressman Scott, Senator Harris, and civil rights activists from around the country as we continue on our march towards a more perfect union.”

In addition to protecting civil rights on an individual basis, the Do No Harm Act would also overturn the Trump Administration’s recent waiver allowing faith-based foster agencies in South Carolina to deny services to same-sex and non-Christian couples.

Democrats Introduce Bill To Amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to Protect LGBT Americans

Democrats Introduce Bill To Amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to Protect LGBT Americans

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Senate Democrats introduced a bill Tuesday that would amend the 25-year-old Religious Freedom Restoration Act to prevent the law from being used to justify discrimination against people, including gay, lesbian and transgender citizens.

Though it is unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled Congress, the Democrats’ bill, called the Do No Harm Act, shows the party’s stance toward a thorny question in the hands of the Supreme Court — how to choose when both LGBT people and conservative Christians feel their civil rights are at risk.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, commonly referred to as RFRA was enacted in 1993. Initially, it was usually referenced in cases involving practitioners of minority religions, such as Sikhs and Muslims seeking the right to wear their religious headgear in their driver’s license photos. But in recent years, it has become a favorite law among conservative Christians, who try to use it toi “protect” their “religious rights” discriminate against the GLBT community.

The Supreme Court is considering the case of a Christian cake baker, who says he should have the religious freedom to refuse to make a cake for a gay wedding. (Florists, photographers and an Indiana pizza shop have made similar claims.)

The Democrats’ bill would amend RFRA to say that it does not protect the religious liberty of one person when the civil rights of another would be impinged. “While our country was founded on the value of religious liberty, that freedom cannot come at the expense of others’ civil rights,” Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said in a statement.

The sponsors of the Senate bill include Hirono and Sens. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Edward J. Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.).

The bill would add text to the 1993 law specifying that RFRA cannot counteract civil rights laws, employment law, protections against child abuse or access to health care.

Angie’s List CEO Resigns, Considers Launching Challenge Against Anti-Gay Indiana Governor Mike Pence

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Osterele

 

Via the Indianapolis Star:

Bill Oesterle is quitting as CEO of Angie’s List, saying he wants to re-enter state politics and help repair the “shellacking” Indiana’s image took from the passage of the “religious freedom” act. The news caught both the state’s business and political communities by surprise, and some see the move as a direct effort to unseat Gov. Mike Pence over his handling of the controversial issue. Oesterle, 49, co-founded the online consumer review company 20 years ago and has been its only chief executive. He hasn’t been involved in state politics since he managed two-term Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ first election campaign in 2004. Oesterle’s announcement amounts to “an announcement of trying to unseat a governor,” said Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics. “If you think about the individual positions that could have made a difference about this (RFRA), that’s only one, that’s the governor.” “That is somebody who is saying either he is running for governor or is looking for somebody to run for governor,” Downs said of Oesterle.

Interestingly like Pence, Oesterle is a Republican and his move could signal a split in the state’s GOP pitting Republican-leaning business leaders against religious conservatives. Pence is up for reelection in 2016.

Indiana GOP Refuses To Consider LGBT Anti-Discrimination Bill After Hiring PR Firm To Fix It’s Anti-Gay Image – #StillBoycottIndiana

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BoycottIndiana

 

Earlier this week it was disclosed that the state of Indiana had hired a PR firm and was expected to spend more than $2,ooo,000.00 to repair its damaged image of appearing anti-gay after Republican  Gov. Mike Pence’s signed its very discriminatory  Religious Freedom Restoration bill into law.

But even after suffering all the damage of the past few weeks today the Republican controlled Indiana House once again showed its anti-gay stripes and denied an attempt to extend protections for LGBT residents under the state’s non-discrimination laws in response to the uproar over the new religious objections law.

Via the Associated Press:

The proposal called for adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the Indiana civil rights law covering education, employment and housing. Republican leaders say there isn’t enough time left in the legislative session to tackle such a policy change, and GOP members backed a ruling Tuesday that the proposal didn’t meet House rules for consideration. Senate Republicans on Tuesday also rejected a proposal to create a special committee to study the non-discrimination issue.

You can cover shit with candy sprinkles but it will still stink.

Good luck with that, Indiana.

And remember  #StillBoycottIndiana

President Obama *SNAPS* “Less Than Loving Christians” At White House Easter Prayer Breakfast – Video

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SNAP

 

Courtesy of Mediaite:

Towards the end of his speech at Tuesday morning’s Easter Prayer Breakfast, President Barack Obama appeared to veer off script to make some comments that implicitly referenced the fierce debate that has been raging over the last week about “religious freedom” laws in Indiana, Arkansas and elsewhere. “On Easter, I do reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I am supposed to love,” Obama said. “And I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less-than-loving expressions by Christians, I get concerned.” As the crowd began to murmur, the president backed off, saying, “But that’s a topic for another day.” “I was about to veer off,” he explained. “I’m pulling it back.” “Where there is injustice we defend the oppressed,” Obama said, returning to his prepared remarks. “Where there is disagreement, we treat each other with compassion and respect. Where there are differences, we find strength in our common humanity, knowing that we are all children of God.”

I think he means you Tony Perkins, Brian Fischer, and the “Christian” right’s very own Tokyo Rose, aka Dana Loesh.

 

Loving Christian and FRC Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins Lauds Trump's Budget Plan To Stop Feeding The Elderly

FRC’s Tony Per-KKK-ins: Christians “abroad will suffer” Unless We Persecute And Discriminate Against Gays Here – Video

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It takes real talent for Tony Perkins, President of the nationally recognized Family Research Council hate group to link  LGBT activists to ISIS and other anti-christian movements in the Arab world where they cut off your motherfucking head. Because all eyes in Syria are on Indiana.

Tony’s bullshit us utterly  breathtaking. (And NOT in a good way.)

 

Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, and 100 Other Tech Companies Call For Full Federal LGBT Rights and Equality – Full List

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Tech Companies

 

Fed up with the the ongoing RFRA battles a coalition of over 100 major tech industry corporations including: Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Linkedin, Yahoo, Netflix, Intuit, Uber, Salesforce, Cisco Systems, and PayPal has issued a joint statement calling for full federal LGBT anti-discrimination protections.

Joint Statement from Tech Industry Leaders

The values of diversity, fairness and equality are central to our industry. These values fuel creativity and inspiration, and those in turn make the U.S. technology sector the most admired in the world today.

We believe it is critically important to speak out about proposed bills and existing laws that would put the rights of minorities at risk. The transparent and open economy of the future depends on it, and the values of this great nation are at stake.

Religious freedom, inclusion, and diversity can co-exist and everyone including LGBT people and people of faith should be protected under their states’ civil rights laws. No person should have to fear losing their job or be denied service or housing because of who they are or whom they love.

However, right now those values are being called into question in states across the country. In more than twenty states, legislatures are considering legislation that could empower individuals or businesses to discriminate against LGBT people by denying them service if it they felt it violated their religious beliefs.

To ensure no one faces discrimination and ensure everyone preserves their right to live out their faith, we call on all legislatures to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to their civil rights laws and to explicitly forbid discrimination or denial of services to anyone.

Anything less will only serve to place barriers between people, create hurdles to creativity and inclusion, and smother the kind of open and transparent society that is necessary to create the jobs of the future. Discrimination is bad for business and that’s why we’ve taken the time to join this joint statement.

Sincerely,

Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce
Max Levchin, CEO, Affirm
Mark Pincus, Chairman, Zynga
Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO, Yelp
Jack Dorsey, CEO, Square
Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter
Logan Green, CEO, Lyft
Brian Chesky, CEO, Airbnb
Joe Gebbia, CPO, Airbnb
Nathan Blecharczyk, CTO, Airbnb
Ron Conway, Founder, SV Angel
John Donahoe, CEO, Ebay
Paul Graham, CoFounder, YCombinator
Rich Barton, Chairman, Zillow Group
Chad Hurley, CEO, Mixbit
Adora Cheung, CEO, Homejoy
Phil Libin, CEO, Evernote
Trevor Traina, CEO, IfOnly
Nirav Tolia, CEO, Nextdoor
Dion Lim, CEO, NextLesson
Bret Taylor, CEO, Quip
Joe Lonsdale, Managing Partner, Formation 8
Thomas Layton, Chairman, Elance-odesk
Fabio Rosati, CEO, Elance-odesk
Dave Morin, CEO, Path
Mark Goldstein, Chairman, BackOps
Kevin Rose, CEO, North Technologies
Yves Behar, CCO, Jawbone
Padmasree Warrior, CTSO, Cisco Systems
Tony Conrad, CEO, about.me
Sunil Paul, CEO, Sidecar
Michael Moritz, Chairman, Sequoia Capital
Dan Schulman, President, PayPal
Devin Wenig, President, eBay Marketplaces
Robert Hohman, CEO, Glassdoor
Laurene Powell Jobs, Founder and Chair, Emerson Collective
Mohan Warrior, CEO, Alphalight
David Spector, CEO, ThirdLove
Shervin Pishevar, CoFounder, Sherpa Ventures
David Karp, CEO, Tumblr
Reid Hoffman, Chairman, Linkedin
Kevin Ryan, Chairman, Gilt
Michael Birch, CoFounder, Bebo
Hosain Rahman, CEO, Jawbone
John Zimmer, President, Lyft
Bill Ready, CEO, Braintree
Jon Oringer, CEO, Shutterstock Images
Drew Houston, CEO, Dropbox
Bijan Sabet,  General Partner, Spark Capital
Douglas Merrill, CEO, ZestFinance
Tom Sheahan, CEO, RedOxygen
Brian Samelson, CEO, eMaint.com
Daniel Lurie, CEO, Tipping Point Community
Aaron Levie, CEO, Box
Jeff Weiner, CEO, Linkedin
Gary Moore, President & COO, Cisco
Travis Katz, CEO, Gogobot
Joe Davis, CEO, Webtrends
Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft
Brad Smith, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Microsoft
Josh Kopelman, Partner, First Round Capital
Rob Glaser, CEO, Realnetworks
Jason Goldberg, CEO, hem
Evan Reece, CEO, Liftopia
Dave Gilboa, CoFounder, Warby Parker
Neil Blumenthal, CoFounder, Warby Parker
Sean Parker, Chairman, Airtime
Reed Hastings, CEO, Netflix     
Charles Phillips, CEO, Infor
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, CEO, Joyus.com
Michael Brown, President & CEO, Symantec
Sarah Leary, CoFounder, Nextdoor
Katie Stanton, VP, Twitter
Karen Appleton, Founder, Box.org
Brit Morin, CEO, Brit + Co
Susan Wojcicki, CEO, Youtube
Melody McCloskey, Founder, StyleSeat
Brandee Barker, Co-Founder & Partner, The Pramana Collective
Greg Tseng, CEO, if(we)
David Tisch, Chairman, Boxgroup
Kristen Koh Goldstein, CEO, BackOps
Jessica Herrin, CEO, Stella & Dot
Brian O’Kelley, CEO, AppNexus
Jeff Lawson, CEO, Twilio
Steven R. Boal, CEO, Coupons.com
Gary Shapiro, CEO, Consumer Electronics Association
Kim Jabal, CFO, Path
Ryan Holmes, CEO, Hootsuite
Alison Pincus. Co-Founder, One Kings Lane
Jeremy Liew, Managing Director, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Larry Page, President, Google
Eric Schmidt, Chairman, Google
Travis Kalanick, CEO, Uber Technologies
Brad Smith, CEO, Intuit
Mike Huang, CEO, Glow
Aileen Lee, Founder, Cowboy Ventures
Kristen Koh Goldstein, CEO, Scalus
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook
Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook
Chris Nicholas, President, Asymmetrica Labs
Ken Brownfield, CTO, Asymmetrica Labs
Stacy Brown-Philpot, COO, TaskRabbit
Nick Woodman, CEO of GoPro
Tony Bates, President of GoPro
Jack Lazar, CFO of GoPro
Tracy DiNunzio, CEO, Tradesy
John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco
Lorna Borenstein, CEO, Grokker.com
Michelle Peluso, CEO, Gilt
Ben Silbermann, CEO Pinterest
Lloyd Carney, CEO, Brocade
Irakly George Arison, CEO, Shift Technologies Inc.
Evan Goldberg, CTO,  Netsuite
Zach Nelson, CEO, Netsuite
David Hassell, CEO, 15Five
Brian McAndrews, CEO, Pandora Media
Jared Fliesler, General Partner, Matrix Partners
Joshua Kushner, Founder, Thrive Capital
Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo!
Bracken P. Darrell, CEO, Logitech

GOP Rep Tom “Lenny Small” Cotton: Put RFRA In Perspective, After All They Kill Gays In Iran – Video

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Cotton

 

Of Mice and Men character study GOP Rep. Tom Cotton (R) on CNN yesterday urged everyone who is in their right minds who and irate over both Indiana’s and Arkansas’ “religious freedom” law to chillax and get some  “perspective,” suggesting the treatment of LGBT people in Indiana is nothing  compared to countries where gay people are executed.

“I think it’s important we have a sense of perspective,” Cotton said. “In Iran they hang you for the crime of being gay.”

Cotton then went back to daydreaming about a farm in the country with bunny rabbits.

 

American Family Association: AIDS Is The Reason Why Gays Shouldn’t Have Equal Rights

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afa'

 

The American Family Association is going after Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly of all people because she had the nerve to suggest that if LGBT Americans were simply added to state anti-discrimination laws this whole RFRA – Right To Discriminate debacle would be over.

Wrote Walker Wildmon, son of AFA president Tim Wildmon to Kelly:

With all due respect Megyn Kelly, you are wrong. Homosexuals do not need to be a protected class along with blacks. In fact, you do African Americans and civil rights leaders an injustice by comparing homosexuals to blacks that weren’t allowed to vote and were deprived of certain God given rights prior and during the civil rights era. By classifying homosexuals as a “protected class” you are condoning the behavior that the World Health Organization concluded “men who have sex with men are 19 times more likely to have HIV than the general population”. So Megyn, with all due respect, do you still think homosexuals should be a protected class? I would hope not.

Windom ends his disgusting piece with the following:

I do not hate anyone. In fact, I am showing genuine compassion by reaching out to expose the facts of this lifestyle. May God bring repentance to all who do not know Jesus as their Savior and redeemer. After all “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God bless.

JUST WOW!

Now that we have NASCAR, WALMART, and even a FOX News commentators siding with us the bigots are going insane and showing their TRUE black hearts for all the world to see..

 

“Porno Pete” LaBarbera, Tony Per-KKK-ins, and Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum Have The Indiana Religious Freedom Blues

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3 evil rats

 

“Porno” Peter LaBarbera, in a press release published today by Christian Newswire. (Because no self-respecting news outlet would publish it)

“Homosexual activists and their sycophants in the media (e.g., CNN’s homosexual anchor – activist Don Lemon) are cunningly building upon their distortions of the RFRA to demand a pro-homosexual special-rights law in the Hoosier State. It would be the cruelest of ironies if the media-driven backlash against Indiana’s religious freedom law were used to push through a statewide ‘gay rights’ law in Indiana. Such pro-homosexual laws and corporate policies have been the engine driving PRO-LGBT DISCRIMINATION against people of faith for decades – all in the sweet-sounding name of ‘equality.’ Politically speaking, it seems bigotry is OK as long as it advances the ‘progressive’ agenda to impose mandatory acceptance of homosexuality and gender confusion on everyone.”

Family Research Council President and KKK Mascot Tony Perkins on FAUX News:

“What the governor did today, and Mike’s been a longtime friend of mine, but what he did is I think he emboldened his enemies and he enraged his friends. And there are people that are deeply concerned about the growing intolerance towards religious freedom in this country and they were very disappointed. There’s no question about it. However this language, this fix, we’ve still not seen it yet and there’s still an opportunity, I think, to salvage the heart and soul of what this religious freedom restoration act was intended to do.“

Rick Santorum, speaking to some not-so impressed students at George Washington University.

“The only sensitivity training we need is to respect every person. Tolerance is the most misused word in the English language. Tolerance means you can say really horrible nasty things that I hate and offend me. That’s how we get along. You have a right to be mean — a right to be nasty to people. That’s how this country works, because we have thick skins and we aren’t offended.  Should a gay or lesbian-owned printshop have to print signs for the Westboro Baptists that say ‘God hates fags’? Should a Jewish printshop have to make signs for the KKK? Should a kosher deli have to serve non-kosher food? It’s a two-way street. Tolerance is a two-way street. If you’re saying that ‘your religious liberties are not as important as my — fill in the blank,’ then I’ve got a problem with that.”

Pardon me, has anyone seen my sycophants? I seem to have misplaced them. Oh wait!  There they are!