Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbySeptember 19th, 2013
About 60 US Representatives (they claim bi-partisan) have signed onto a new bill they are calling the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act, which is being described as a bill to protect churches and religious organizations from being targeted by the IRS for punishment over their pro-traditional marriage position. I’ve yet to locate a copy of the bill, but sponsor Raul Labrador (R-ID) summarizes it this way:
The Marriage and Religious Freedom Act would prohibit government discrimination against individuals and institutions that exercise religious or moral conscience regarding marriage as the union of one man and one woman by ensuring that the federal government will not:
· Deny or revoke an exemption from taxation under Sec. 501 of the IRS Tax Code
· Disallow a deduction for Federal tax purposes of any charitable contribution made to or by a person
· Deny or withhold any federal benefit
· Deny or exclude a person from receiving any federal grant, contract, loan, license, certification, accreditation, employment, or other similar position or status
· Otherwise discriminate against any individual organization
I have no problem with the first two bullet points. I don’t know what is meant by the third and find the fifth vague. But the third bullet point it the heart of this bill, the true purpose, and the means by which these legislators are seeking to engage in egregious and un-American behavior.
“Deny or exclude a person from receiving any federal grant, contract, loan, license, certification, accreditation, employment, or other similar position or status”
What this says is that if a solar panel installer seeks a contract from the federal government, the government must allow that contractor to refuse to provide the federal benefit to a gay homeowner. It says that a military contractor spending millions of taxpayer dollars must be allowed to discriminate in hiring against an applicant because his spouse is male. It says that the filing clerk at the social security administration can refuse to process the paperwork of a gay couple. It says that the IRS auditor can pretend that the married filing jointly return in front of her can pretend that it is filed fraudulently. It says that the customs official at the airport can unilaterally decide that your spouse isn’t really your spouse. It says that you can be turned down for student loans, for a camping permit in a national forest, for a White House visit, for any federally related benefit by any person at any level who decides that their religion requires them to discriminate against you.
There is no way that conservative Christians would EVER apply such a bill to themselves. Which gives me my response to Labrador:
I’ll make you a deal. You can pass a bill making sure that people can refuse service based on sexual orientation and marital status if you ALSO pass a bill making sure that people can refuse service based on religious affiliation.
That way Southern Baptist florists can refuse service to gay couples, and gay florists can refuse service to Southern Baptists. And one county clerk can refuse to issue a marriage licenses to gay couples while another can refuse to issue marriage licenses to Catholics and a third can refuse service to anyone with any faith at all.
That way everyone’s religious beliefs are protected, not just the anti-gay conservative Christian religious beliefs.
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mlr
September 19th, 2013
I love your stipulation but you should include IQ, if you’re a stupid bigot, you can’t receive service either.
Soren456
September 19th, 2013
And we’d be right back to where we started.
Sir Andrew
September 19th, 2013
the government much allow that contractor to refuse
much = must
F Young
September 19th, 2013
I suspect bullets 1 and 2 are intended to allow organizations mainly involved in lobbying politicians and supporting citizen initiatives against same-sex marriage on religious grounds are not disallowed as charitable groups due to political activity, unlike other lobby groups, especially those aimed at promoting and defending same-sex marriages.
Timothy Kincaid
September 19th, 2013
thanks sir andrew. fixed
iDavid
September 20th, 2013
Timothy,
Very funny and cute. Your way would certainly keep the media filled with more antics of the day, every day. But actually, I do see this entire bill as rating towards the True-Garbage category.
First off; this bill is illegal. It seeks to grant perfect and approve criminal behavior to a group seeking to overthrow the very foundation of the US Constitution. They seem to have the term discrimination mixed up with the term prosecution. If bullet one were written correctly, I believe this is how it would most likely be reworded:
The Marriage and Religious Freedom Act would prohibit government prosecution against individuals and institutions that exercise religious discrimination regarding marriage as union between one man and one woman etc.
This bill is more accurately named the Marriage and Religious Discrimination Freedom Act and has so many bullet holes and rotten tomatoes dripping off it, I could barely make out the words. Every aspect is full of exonerations from constituational law. It is the same as banning gay marriage; it’s enshrining illegal discrimination against legal equality.
I can’t see this stinky bill making it past the public toilet, but then, staunch republicans do seem to have that certain aroma that attracts flys, so such has happened before.
Sorry Timothy, I know how much you want to throw flowers at and show the door to your first religious bigoted floral customer, but I don’t think that is in the making, though I would adore seeing AND recording it. But hey, who am I to stop you from trying. Go Tim go.
Eric in Oakland
September 21st, 2013
“But the third bullet point it the heart of this bill..”
Don’t you mean the “fourth bullet point”?
It is disgusting how the same people who claim that gays want “special rights” can be so eager to create actual special rights for anti-gay bigots.
ebohlman
September 22nd, 2013
As written, the bill would prohibit Federal prosecution of anyone who commits a crime against a person because of their sexuality (it wouldn’t merely prohibit hate-crime penalty enhancements).
The chance that the bill could even come to a vote in the Senate, much less pass by a veto-proof majority, is minimal to non-existent. Nonetheless, it’s important to point out just how ridiculously wide its scope is.
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