How Hobby Lobby Split the Left and Set Back Gay Rights

[theHandpuppet]

In the Hobby Lobby decision handed down last month, the Supreme Court was asked to strike a balance between women’s rights and religious freedom. But the major conflict that has erupted in the wake of that decision has been between religious freedom and gay rights. The resulting controversy has split gay-rights and faith groups on the left, with wide-ranging political fallout that some now fear could hurt both causes...
The Atlantic
How Hobby Lobby Split the Left and Set Back Gay Rights
The Supreme Court decision set off a debate between religious liberty and sexual-orientation nondiscrimination that advocates fear could undo years of progress.
Molly Ball
Jul 20 2014

...The debate over a religious exemptions for sexual-orientation nondiscrimination first came to the fore as ENDA, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in private workplaces, was being drafted. Conservative religious groups like the Conference of Catholic Bishops pledged not to oppose the legislation if it included a broad exemption covering all employees of religious nonprofits. (ENDA’s exemption doesn’t apply to for-profit companies like Hobby Lobby, but it would allow a Catholic school, for example, to fire a gay teacher or janitor.) Such an exemption made many gay-rights campaigners nervous, but most accepted it as a necessary political compromise to get the votes of moderate lawmakers.

The Catholic Bishops reneged on the deal, coming out in opposition to ENDA in 2010 despite the exemption. Nonetheless, the bill passed the Senate last November with 64 votes. Many of the Republicans who voted for the bill, such as Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, cited the exemption as the reason they could support it.

With the Republican-controlled House declining to bring ENDA up for a vote, gay groups called on Obama to take executive action by applying its provisions to federal contractors. (Federal employees are already protected from sexual-orientation discrimination.) Last month, the White House finally announced he would do so. Whether the order would include a religious exemption along the lines of ENDA’s immediately became the subject of debate. When the Hobby Lobby decision came down shortly afterward, the debate intensified....

MORE at http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/07/how-hobby-lobby-split-the-left-and-set-back-gay-rights/374721/

[Fearless]

1. We've faced setbacks before

It was less than 11 years ago that no same-sex couple in this nation could legally be married. We have come very far in a very short period of time. We must not be disheartened, we must press on. There are battles yet to be won, and I know that we are up for the cause.

[theHandpuppet]

2. I hate the headline for that article

Once again, it pits the fights for women's rights vs gay rights. Perhaps that's not how the author intended it to come off but it surely sounded that way to me. What the Hobby Lobby decision proved that what we all have is a common enemy -- those who demand government by theocracy. We've got to present a united front against them.