In Kansas, dozens of foster children are spending their nights not in warm beds in safe homes, but on couches and cots in child welfare offices run by state contractors. These children need loving foster and adoptive families to provide the care they need. Yet, in spite of this crisis, Kansas legislators are trying to make it harder for these children to find families who can give them warm, safe beds.
Oklahoma Adoption Agencies Should Focus On Children And Reject Discrimination
Tomorrow, an Oklahoma House committee will take up Senate Bill 1140, a bill that would allow taxpayer-funded adoption and foster care entities to deny kids good homes in the name of religion.
Opposition To Georgia’s Anti-LGBTQ Adoption Bill SB 375 Is Growing
Denied Opportunity To Become Foster Parents, LGBTQ Couple Sues Government For Using Religion As An Excuse To Discriminate
Lawmakers In Two States Consider Mean-Spirited ‘Parody Marriage’ Bills
Standing Together For The Separation Of Church And State
Georgia Adoption Bill Harms Children In The Name Of ‘Religious Freedom'
In Georgia, there are more than 14,000 children in foster care. Tomorrow morning at 8:00am, legislators there will debate a bill that would make it even harder for these children to find safe, stable, and loving homes.
We’re Watching To Make Sure State Legislatures Don’t Permit Religion To Be Used To Discriminate
Religious Freedom laws should be a shield to protect religious freedom, not a sword used to harm others. But this year, as in past sessions, legislators continue to introduce so-called religious freedom bills that would allow taxpayer-funded social service providers, individuals, and businesses to use religion to discriminate and deny people their rights.
Here Are The Top Ten Church-State Stories From 2017
Kentucky Judge Reprimanded For Refusing To Hear Adoption Cases Involving LGBTQ Parents
Kentucky’s Judicial Conduct Commission this week reprimanded a judge who made headlines earlier this year for refusing to hear adoption cases involving LGBTQ parents.
A Federal Agency Is Hiding Public Comments About Its Policies Concerning Faith-Based Organizations. AU Would Like To Know Why.
Our Nation’s Higher Education Law Shouldn’t Include A License To Discriminate
This morning, another bill that allows religion to be used to discriminate started making its way through Congress. Hidden in the bill dubbed the PROSPER Act are several provisions that would allow religious student groups and religious colleges and universities that get taxpayer funds to use religion to get around nondiscrimination policies that protect students and employees at these schools.
On #GivingTuesday, Here's A Reminder Of How Your Donations Help Americans United Defend Religious Freedom
HHS Asked The Public’s Advice On Using Religion To Discriminate—And We Said It’s A Bad Idea
Anti-LGBTQ Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Resurfaces
The Trump Administration Is Seeking Advice On How To Use Religion To Discriminate
North Dakota Couple Sues Catholic Charities After Being Denied Adoption
The Associated Press reports that a North Dakota couple filed a lawsuit against Catholic Charities for refusing to let them adopt a 15-year-old girl who had been in foster care for eight years because they were living together before they were married.
New Trump Administration Policies Are A Blueprint For Using Religion To Discriminate
From AU's Wall of Separation blog:
Last Friday, the Trump Administration announced major policy changes that significantly weaken the principle of church-state separation and serve as a blueprint for using religion to discriminate, especially against women and LGBTQ people.
The two new rules that offer organizations and corporations the right to deny women insurance coverage for contraception made the news. Less coverage was given to the Department of Justice’s 25-page guidance titled, “Federal Law Protections for Religious Liberty.” This guidance contains extreme interpretations of the law in an effort to give a greenlight to religious exemptions, regardless of how an exemption would affect other people or the public interest.
Religious freedom is a fundamental value, but it does not allow religion to be used as an excuse to harm other people.
Here are just a few of the most troubling ways the guidance could be used:
- People and corporations may cite religion as an excuse to ignore nondiscrimination laws that protect women and LGBTQ people.
- Taxpayer-funded organizations can claim a right to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion. They can also use a religious litmus test to decide whom they will serve within the government-funded social service program and which services they will provide, even if it conflicts with the terms of the government grant or contract.
- The government will give religious exemptions to businesses and government employees, even if the result is taking away a right or benefit the law guarantees to someone else.
In other words, the guidance allows taxpayer-funded organizations, corporations, and individuals to use religion as a trump card to almost any law.
This guidance misses the mark: Our laws should be a shield to protect religious freedom and not a sword to harm others. Our country is strongest when we are all free to believe or not, as we see fit, and to practice our faith without hurting others.
Michigan Law Allowing State-Contracted Foster Care Organizations To Use Religion As Excuse To Turn Away Families Challenged In Court
West Virginia County Apologizes For Discriminating Against Same-Sex Couple Who Applied For A Marriage License
Last year, Amanda Abramovich and Samantha Brookover were harassed by a West Virginia county clerk who ranted at them as they applied for a wedding license. The clerk called them an “abomination” and declared her belief that the same-sex couple shouldn’t be allowed to marry. Today, thanks to Amanda and Samantha’s courage to stand up to discrimination, Gilmer County has promised that other same-sex couples won’t face similar harassment that ruins their wedding days.