Religious freedom or license to discriminate?
By Jenna Portnoy
February 12 at 10:59 AM
RICHMOND – A House panel on Thursday advanced a bill that says Virginia government agencies cannot punish any person or group from discriminating against anyone who is in a same-sex marriage, is transgender or — in a provision that was added minutes before lawmakers voted — has sex outside marriage.
Opponents call the bill a “dangerously broad” license to discriminate that goes beyond high-profile cases of bakers who don’t want to make cakes for gay weddings. For example, they say, the bill could block the state from pulling funding from religious schools that deny admission to children of gay parents, or prevent a city from revoking a license from a hotel that won’t accept unmarried guests.
Supporters — including the bill’s sponsor, Del. C. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) — say the measure anticipates that people with certain religious objections could be punished for those beliefs as acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals becomes the norm across America. People who give to Catholic Charities worry their donation might no longer be tax deductible, or that a religious charity could lose a government grant, he said.
The new measure protecting those who believe “sexual relations are properly reserved to” a marriage between one man and one woman was added at the request of the Family Foundation of Virginia, which helped draft the bill.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/religious-freedom-or-license-to-discriminate/2016/02/12/5775fe9e-d114-11e5-abc9-ea152f0b9561_story.html
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