Equality Act – TERRY THOMPSON

While the news cycles of Covid, the winter storm, Governor Cuomo, and the stimulus package overwhelmed us, one of the most disastrous laws ever foisted on Christians and children just passed the House. The only hope of defeating what I believe is the worst affront to faith and family in American legislative history is now with the Senate.

The so-called “Equality Act,” or HR-5, was passed by the House on Thursday, February 25th, on a vote of 224 – 206 with three Republicans joining Democrats in voting “yes.”

This bill basically adds everyone claiming LGBTQ status to the established federal civil rights protections. This has huge repercussions for Christian churches, especially evangelical churches, Christian business men and women, and our children. Proponents argue that it simply ensures the same rights for LGBTQ that everyone else enjoys. In reality, it takes away the religious and privacy rights of millions of Americans and the innocence of millions of children.

The Act would provide federal protection for either gender that wishes to use the public restrooms of the opposite gender. It would allow biological men to compete in women’s sports and use women’s locker rooms and showers. Men who identify as women could take advantage of special accommodations for entrepreneurial women in business. Doctors and medical organizations (yes, even Christian hospitals and clinics) could no longer refuse to provide hormone treatments and surgical procedures for those with gender dysphoria including teenage children. All businesses, including Christian bookstores and para-church organizations, would be prohibited from refusing employment for LGBTQ applicants who are diametrically opposed to their religious beliefs. Federally funded schools could not teach or acknowledge many differences between the sexes. In summary, the Act would remove most distinctions between males and females.

I believe the most inequitable result of this Act would be it’s deleterious impact on religious freedoms. This Act expressly exempts itself from the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the very basis for religious liberty law. In other words, religious liberty rights could not be used as a defense against the provisions of this Act.

It could designate churches as “public accommodations” no longer having the right to proclaim or practice anything contrary to government positions and mandates about sexual orientation and gender identity. Church employment could no longer be limited to those sharing the same beliefs as the church regarding sex and gender. Church memberships could not exclude those practicing LGBTQ lifestyles. Churches could be forced to accommodate LGBTQ wedding ceremonies and other events.

Religious colleges and universities could be denied government funding and accreditation if they refused to apply sexual orientation and gender identity to dorms, sports, restrooms, etc. They could not teach biblical principles of sexuality and gender.

This bill is anti-biblical, anti-Christian, anti-religious, anti-children, and anti-common-sense. It is everything BUT equitable. And, it is one of the highest priorities of President Biden’s first 100 days in office. It is one of the most significant debts the president owes to the radical left. This bill is a major plank in the Democratic platform in every aspect. It represents everything President Trump, like him or not, and the Senate majority protected us from for four years.

If you’re looking for the difference between Republicans and Democrats on the Hill, look no further than this example. In Thursday’s House Judiciary Committee debate just before the vote, Greg Steube, R-FL, quoted from Deuteronomy 22:5 the biblical truth that this bill was against God’s will, and that Congress was making America more vulnerable to God’s judgment. Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-NY, quickly chastised him publicly stating, “Mr. Steube, when any religious position is ascribed as God’s will, it is no concern of this Congress.”

Fellow Christians, this is the time to “put on the full armor of God” as described in Ephesians 6 and work against this vile bill as it moves to the Senate. Write AND call your Senator. Urge him or her to not only vote against it but to aggressively pursue its defeat among colleagues. Write President Biden insisting he stop caving to the radical left’s extreme agenda. If we fail to stem the flow of this raging counter-culture river now, we won’t recognize America in four years.

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With celebrity crimes, Democrat primary candidates, the wall, and the weather dominating the media, the looming Equality Act is probably far off your radar. This misguided and toxic proposed legislation, especially from the perspective of conservative Christians, will be introduced in Congress within the next few weeks. Here is why it is bad policy and would establish a dangerous precedent.

The Equality Act, as introduced and defeated in both 2015 and 2017, would expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Well, who could be against equality? Truthfully, the seemingly positive title, “Equality Act,” is everything but positive for those who believe in biblical sexuality. The Act includes areas of education, public accommodation, employment, and federal funding, but is much further reaching than those areas imply.

Certainly, Christians reject all forms of discrimination for all persons created in God’s image including those who identify as LGBT. All people are worthy of our love, respect, and fair treatment. However, this act would codify and essentially guarantee equal access for LGBT persons to all venues in our schools, work places, public facilities, and, yes, churches (think bathrooms, dressing rooms, sports participation, etc.). The 1964 Act guarantees equal access to all races which is clearly advocated in the scriptures. The 2019 Act would provide the same access for homosexuals and transgender people which is certainly not the intent of God as indicated in the Bible. God created male and female with certain natural functions, roles, and helpful partnerships for fulfilled lives. He instituted marriage for a man and a woman. He made it perfectly clear that these relationships were not to be corrupted. The Equality Act would blur if not ignore these principles.

The act would almost surely lead to criminal prosecution of religious leaders and other Christian who speak or write in opposition to homosexuality, transgender, or gay marriage. The courts, in deference to the act, would not likely distinguish between illegal discrimination based on sexual orientation and objection to the LGBT lifestyle, although the distinction is obvious. A restaurant owner refusing to serve a biological male dressed in drag is discrimination; my writing a blog post criticizing that person’s lifestyle is not. The Equality Act’s sweeping impact on religious liberty, free speech, and freedom of conscience would be historic.

Schools, businesses, and all other institutions would likely have to mandate training and programs that would teach LGBT lifestyle acceptance. The law would force a cultural change to sexuality in practice having no core ethical limits other than consent, and to male and female definitions being psychologically based rather than biologically based.

The 2015 bill had the financial support of three corporations–Apple, Dow Chemical, and Levi Strauss. Today, the 2019 proposed bill has 161 corporate sponsors with a combined annual revenue of $3.7 trillion. Obviously, the lobbying efforts of this one will be brutal with unprecedented momentum and funding. The 161 supporting companies include the social media giants of Twitter, Google, and Facebook, so posts in strong opposition to the bill may be taken down. I anticipate television and all other media outlets being bombarded with ads promoting the act. If you show active opposition to the Act, you will be demonized. But it will be the right thing to do.

I urge all those concerned about the Equality Act to be alert for its introduction in Congress and prepared to oppose it aggressively in every area of influence you have at your disposal.

Tag: Equality Act

The So-called “Equality Bill”

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The Threat of the Equality Act

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