We Won’t Stand For It: Statement on Dept of Justice Religious Exemption Guidance
The Trump-Sessions Department of Justice released guidance this morning calling for broad interpretations of religious exemptions across the federal government.
Washington, DC, October 6, 2017: The following statement can be attributed to Rea Carey, Executive Director, National LGBTQ Task Force:
The Trump-Sessions Department of Justice released guidance this morning calling for broad interpretations of religious exemptions across the federal government.
The following statement can be attributed to Rea Carey, Executive Director, National LGBTQ Task Force:
“The Trump-Sessions so-called “religious liberty†guidance is completely unsurprising. This Administration has shown again and again that it values the rights of racists, of sexists, of anti-LGBTQ people, and of conservative Christians over the lives of LGBTQ people, people of color, people with disabilities, women, religious minorities including Muslim and Jewish people, and other marginalized populations. This guidance puts that view on paper and it won’t hold up in court.
“Don’t be fooled – this guidance isn’t meant to protect people of faith. A majority of people of faith are opposed to all forms of discrimination and oppression. This guidance also ignores the fact that there are a wide range of religious views about sex, sexuality, gender identity, and reproductive justice, by instead affirming and promoting the particular views of some conservative Christians.
“This guidance is meant to provide a legal basis for discrimination to anyone who is seeking one. This means that under the guise of faith, a bigot would be cast as a victim in need of protections.
“The guidance is meant to “protect†the anti-LGBTQ child welfare worker who’s opposed to placing young people in foster care with a lesbian couple. It’s meant to “protect†the transphobic shelter worker who refuses to give a transgender person a place to sleep for the night. It’s meant to “protect†the anti-Semitic restaurant owner who doesn’t want to serve a Jewish customer. It’s meant to “protect†the pharmacist who wants to make decisions for others and refuses to administer birth control. The list goes on.
“This guidance won’t stand because we won’t stand for it. Attorney General Sessions was tasked with writing this guidance in accordance with well-established federal law on religious exemptions. Instead, he issued guidance that would cause immeasurable harm to millions of people.
“This guidance comes the day after a leaked memo from AG Sessions in which he ignored well-established court precedent interpreting protections against sex discrimination to include gender identity, and on the same day that a rule from the Department of Health and Human Services was released that would repeal mandated access to contraception. We’ve been watching the steady ebb of our rights being washed away; today we’re standing in the flood.”
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CONTACT:
Sarah Massey
Communications Director
smassey@thetaskforce.org
