“It is critical that we continue to build public understanding and support and do all we can to ensure that LGBT equality does not become a partisan issue.”
Demonstrators protest the trans military ban.
The religious exemptions have caused enough concern that some advocacy and civil rights organizations, including the National LGBTQ Task Force, are opposing it. The bill would provide “a federal right to discriminate as long as it's under the guise of religious belief,” said Victoria Kirby Yorke, deputy director of the advocacy and action department at the Task Force. “And there is no standard of proof for this.
The lack of federal legislation has been especially dangerous during the presidency of Donald Trump, who, from the beginning, has sought to roll back hard-won LGBTQ civil rights through judicial nominees, alliances with hate groups, and executive actions including a directive to all agencies promoting “religious liberty.
Trump has stacked his administration with appointees who have ties to extreme right-wing groups who have even more ability to influence national policy without comprehensive anti-LGBT discrimination legislation. The groups include the Alliance Defending Freedom, designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which advocates for re-criminalizing homosexuality and is behind many of the administration’s anti-LGBTQ initiatives.
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