Many red states have started trying to pass “religious freedom” bills over the last year. They call it “religious freedom,” but it’s really a thinly-veiled plot to push their RWNJ agenda. They use these bills to give themselves permission to discriminate against anyone they want to. It protects businesses and religious groups from being charged with discrimination if they deny serving people in the LGBT community.
In 2016, there were 200 of these laws passed, and The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) believes that there will be more of these bills in 2017. ACLU Advocacy and Policy Counsel Eunice Rho told CNN:
“We expect the volume to continue to rise in 2017, both because we have more conservative state governments than in the past, and also since our side defeated an overwhelming majority of bills in 2016.”
President-elect Donald Trump is working on his relationship with the religious right. However, Vice President-elect Mike Pence has a strong relationship with the evangelicals. He is anti-woman, anti-LGBT, and anti-choice.
The federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was passed in 1993 to protect people who are in vulnerable religious minorities.
Louise Melling, the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote this in a column for The Washington Post last summer:
“For more than 15 years, we have been concerned about how the RFRA could be used to discriminate against others. As the events of the past couple of years amply illustrate, our fears were well-founded.”
Yes, the rights of people in religious minorities or other vulnerable groups are in danger with the incoming Trump administration. Trump has talked about passing the “First Amendment Defense Act,” which would allow people to discriminate against LGBT couples even though same sex marriage is legal across the country. This same logic could also be used against religious minorities as well.
We can use the logic of this bill or similar bills against the RWNJs. An atheist group tried to use the bill to file a suit to get “In God We Trust” off of our money. We just need to get smart and fight to protect our civil liberties from a Trump administration.
Featured image via Twitter
