WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump today signed an executive order that would allow religious organizations to endorse political candidates and expand participation in politics. The executive order signed today also enables private employers to use religion as a pretext to deny reproductive health care to their employees.
“Faith is deeply embedded into the history of our country, the spirit of our founding and the soul of our nation,” Trump said in the Rose Garden at a National Day of Prayer event with religious leaders and White House staff. “We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied or silenced anymore.”
The American Civil Liberties Union promised that litigation would follow with ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero issuing the following statement: “The actions taken today are a broadside to our country’s long-standing commitment to the separation of church and state. Whether by executive order or through backroom deals, it’s clear that the Trump administration and Congressional leadership are using religion as a wedge to further divide the country and permit discrimination. We intend to file suit today.
“America is a deeply religious country because religious freedom and tolerance of divergent religious views thrive. President Trump’s efforts to promote religious freedom are thinly-veiled efforts to unleash his conservative religious base into the political arena while also using religion to discriminate. It’s a dual dose of pandering to a base and denying reproductive care. We will see Trump in court, again.”
Jessica Stern, executive director of OutRight Action International, commented on the bill, saying, “Governments around the world try to excuse persecution of minorities – including LGBTIQ people – with religious beliefs. It is no more right in the United States than anywhere else. Discrimination is discrimination regardless of how it is justified.”
Religious organizations, a term loosely defined, and individuals can claim religious freedom, “when providing social services, education, or health care; earning a living, seeking a job, or employing others; receiving government grants or contracts; or otherwise participating in the marketplace, the public square, or interfacing with Federal, State or local governments.”
The executive order would allow for discrimination of LGBTIQ people in a number of ways:
- Allowing individuals and establishments to refuse services to same-sex couples or their children.
- Giving leeway for federal employees to refuse to process marriage registrations of same-sex couples.
- Denying the recognition of an individual’s gender identity and protecting the standing of any organization that believes biological sex is immutable at birth.
- Allowing federally funded adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples.
Stern continued, “We know too well that these kinds of divisive policies risk becoming an excuse for persecution and maybe even violence against LGBTIQ people, especially when individuals feel emboldened to express their homophobic and transphobic beliefs. Religion should not be a state-sanctioned excuse for discrimination.”
