The GOP is bound and determined to use the calamity of Trump’s presidency and their current House and Senate majorities to do as much damage to our communities as possible. Yesterday brought another very consequential threat, and it must not go unnoticed.
Republican senators just re-introduced the so-called “First Amendment Defense Act” (FADA). This news remains out of the media limelight today, but it’s huge: this bill would weaponize a narrow spectrum of conservative religious beliefs about marriage and sexuality, granting agencies across the country even more widespread license to discriminate against LGBTQ families, LGBTQ individuals, unmarried folks of all kinds, and a host of others. For example:
- government employees could refuse to serve married same-sex couples and their families in critical ways such as not processing tax returns, visa applications, or Social Security checks;
- employers could refuse to grant employees family or medical leave to take care of their same-sex spouses;
- employers could fire an unmarried female employee for getting pregnant;
- hospitals could refuse to allow visitation to same-sex partners and spouses;
- social services like homeless shelters, drug treatment programs, and adoption agencies could turn away anyone who has had sex outside of a man-woman marriage; and
- commercial landlords could refuse to provide housing to a single mother.
They’ve been at this for years, but ramped up big time when Trump took office. With last year’s Justice Department guideline on “religious freedom,” anti-LGBTQ discrimination beca
So now, GOP senators have re-introduced First Amendment Defense Act. It’s a body blow to LGBTQ people, to the separation of church and state, and to our constitutional democracy.
We at Our Family Coalition join with hundreds of partners across the state and nation to push back against ill-informed leaders who use religion as a weapon to hurt LGBTQ families and communities.
What can you do?
- contact your senators to demand they oppose this bill and fight against it with all their might
- pitch in today to help us train parent leaders in the fight for our families in California and beyond
- join our speakers’ bureau to share your voice and your story, helping make our families known
We cannot allow our communities’ rights to be rolled back to medieval times. Let us take action, let us pool our resources, and let us be guided by our love – of our children and of justice.
