The Supreme Court in July 2015 changed America once and for all.
SCOTUS announced its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges which legalized gay marriage nationwide.
Senior Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that the ruling posed no threat to constitutional religious freedoms in the first amendment, even as the court not only made law, but actually added to constitutional rights themselves. But this Obergefell decision did more than legalize gay marriage. It proved once and for all that our beloved American Constitution was organic, not fixed but subject to change, addition and subtraction as nine men and women would decide. No matter that the U.S. Constitution gave very specific and limited rights to the federal government and left all of the remaining powers, rights and freedoms to be determined by THE STATES, SCOTUS did its own thing its own way.
In that fateful decision, Justice Kennedy even posited that gay marriages “involve only the rights of two consenting adults whose marriages would pose no risk of harm to themselves or third parties.” In short, such marriages would be no different from heterosexual marriages with little or no impact upon society generally. But Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia passionately differed. Alito wrote in descent that traditionalists would presumably be allowed to “whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes” but if they uttered their beliefs publicly, they would be labeled “bigots and treated as such by governments, employers and schools.” How right he was!
In the four years since that decision, the list of wedding vendors, business leaders, government leaders, students, campus ministries, judges, military personnel and counselors punished, silenced, sued or fined for Christian convictions concerning marriage and human sexuality has ensued just as Alito predicted, or even worse! Governments everywhere, incredibly liberal and progressive, federal, state and local have introduced laws, rules and regulations which directly or indirectly punish, silence, provide basis for litigation or impose serious fines for the expression of or the living out of Christian convictions concerning marriage. And voicing any discontent with modern and progressive concepts of HUMAN SEXUALITY. And more, much more to come. The war against Christian values and convictions ramps up, my fellow Americans and Christians, and that war has only just begun.
And more. LGBTQ activists have relentlessly pushed for normalization of the new progressive favorite TRANSGENDERISM. This radical and uncompromising movement has gained footholds in psychiatry, medicine, news media, entertainment, education, government and social services among others. This movement aggressively and angrily DEMONIZES anyone who questions the new sexual dogma, labeling them haters and bigots. To express Christian convictions regarding LGBTQ and to simply request first amendment rights including and especially freedom of religion is to be hateful and bigoted and consequently subject to being punished, silenced, sued or fined. Politicians everywhere are embracing the LGBTQ movement and they are doing so with unabated and “unadulterated enthusiasm” to the detriment of people of faith and especially Christians.
No legislation represents more clearly this aggressive, progressive onslaught than:
THE EQUALITY ACT OF 2019.
This unbelievably dangerous and unconstitutional act was passed by the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES under the aggressive leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi by the incredible margin of 236 for and 173 against. The act was sent to the Senate for review, modification and passage but thankfully for Americans and Christians, the Senate, Republican controlled, is most unlikely to pass this act or if it does, it will do so with significant modifications. Even if that happens, the act will not become law during the term of President Trump who has promised to veto as soon as he can. But, there it is, an expression of will, in the large majority of this new radical, progressive, unconstitutional DEMOCRATIC PARTY which seems determined, this party does, to change or even eliminate so much of traditional America. Pelosi, and especially former Vice President Joe Biden, Presidential candidate, and virtually all other democratic candidates for President are passionately supportive of this ruinous act. If it ever passes, it will absolutely gut the first amendment in so many ways including so much of freedom of speech, assembly, press and most importantly:
FREEDOM OF RELIGION.
The Equality Act would remake the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act by establishing new federally protected categories of:
SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY.
The Civil Rights Act was designed to correct systemic and institutional racial discrimination, entirely different than the Equality Act. It, by contrast, seeks to establish new federally protected categories of sexual orientation and gender identity in every sphere of society, including religious institutions!
The so called SOGI rights (sexual orientation and gender identity) would require obedience and endorsement to but ONE VIEW OF MARRIAGE and what it means to be male and female. And, to be feared more than anything else, my fellow Christians is the fact that if the Equality Act becomes law, it would forbid churches, religious schools and other religious NON–PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS from employing in their workforce those who believe in and are willing to abide by organizational standards on these critical subjects. Churches, even churches, and Pastors would be not only required to tolerate these new laws, but would be required to endorse them under penalties of litigation, fines and even in some extreme cases imprisonment.
BOTTOM LINE: LGBTQ rights would trump religious freedom in every situation. This unconstitutional act would make religious freedom a SECONDARY FREEDOM OR RIGHT, giving way to the new laws against the new discrimination.
The Equality Act would not only affect churches and Pastors, but all faith-based institutions, including foster and adoption care entities, parents, students, medical workers and public employees. And, it would require the very same new standards and values for the PRIVATE SECTOR! Businesses privately owned and their employees would be required to embrace the new dogma and run their businesses accordingly.
And even more. The Equality Act explicitly states that the provisions in the 1993 RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT (RFRA), which guaranteed that interests in religious freedom are protected, can NOT be used as a defense in cases in which sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI) discrimination is in question. And that very same prohibition would extend to the 50 STATES as well. These radical, progressive Democrats want to make certain that there can never be any RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DEFENSE to discrimination. That led one Christian author to state that she could not fathom how any thinking Christian could ever be or vote democratic.
Even a liberal scholar like Douglas Laycock of the University of Virginia Law School who openly supports same sex marriage has argued against the new sexual orthodoxy in the Equality Act stating that this proposed legislation:
“Is not a good faith attempt to reconcile competing interests. It is an attempt by one side to grab all the disputed territory and to crush the other side.”
How right he is. No dialogue, no compromise, no separate but equal. Our way, the democratic way or out of the public square for any who disagree.
The Equality Act would silence contrary belief systems, and public witness or testimony thereto. Bible studies could be contained or even eliminated. Bakeries would not have the right not to design cakes for lesbian or gay weddings according to their religious conscience. In extreme cases, judges could terminate the parental rights with regard to refusing to support their child’s transgender desires. And perhaps most shocking, there is now in Alaska a faith-based shelter fighting for the right to prevent biological males from sleeping in a room reserved for women who have been victims of sexual assault or physical abuse. Can you believe this my fellow Christians, and even my fellow Americans who believe in the freedoms of the constitution? Can you believe this? And how, I ask, could you ever vote democrat?
And even more. This Equality Act would make a person’s biological sex meaningless. For example, in women’s athletics, biological males could declare their sexual orientation and gender identity to be female as a result of taking female hormones and compete in women’s athletics against biological women. That actually happened in Connecticut where two biological males taking such female hormones competed in a girl’s state indoor race and finished FIRST AND SECOND! So much for equality. If this law passes it would as congressional representative Vicky Hartzler so clearly stated would “dissolve decades of women’s achievements overnight.”
Those aggressively antagonistic to this INEQUALITY ACT urge that all thinking Americans and people of faith rise up, and contact federal Senators and demand that this horrendous act be defeated and never become law. All you need to do is send a simple email to your federal Senator stating your positions. DO IT! And do the very same thing to President Donald Trump.
And one more thing. You have the chance, right thinking and constitutional Americans, to vote out of office these 236 democratic radicals who passed this act so enthusiastically in elections 2020. DO IT! No matter who they are or how long they have been in office. And perhaps that should begin in San Francisco where the good true American citizens should send Nancy Pelosi home once and for all. DO IT! Protect America, protect the Constitution, protect the first amendment, and most importantly, protect FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Never forget, my fellow Americans, that freedoms once lost are lost forever!
And one more thing. Don’t vote for any presidential candidate who would make as a priority the passage of the INEQUALITY ACT. No such man or woman should ever occupy the Oval office. NEVER. The fight is on, the fight of faith. Be diligent, watchmen and watchwomen on the wall, the walls of Washington DC! The constitutional barbarians intend to win and radically change America any way possible.
DON’T LET IT HAPPEN!