Tag: religious liberty

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Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver: Forcing Kim Davis To Do Her Job Is Like Asking Her To License Child Rape

Right Wing Watch has the details:

Mat Staver, the Liberty Counsel attorney who is representing Kentucky clerk Kim Davis during her ongoing refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses, appeared on the “WallBuilders Live” radio program today, where he said that requiring Davis to issue such marriage licenses is like requiring her to provide licenses to “sodomize children.”

“A clerk provides licenses to do something,” Staver explained. “A license to operate a motor vehicle on the road, a license to build a particular facility or a license to do this or a license to do that or a license to operate a business. So that person is licensing someone to do something and in this case, they’re licensing what? They’re licensing something that is directly contrary to the core of their religious convictions, to engage in sinful activity among same-sex relations and sanction something that is contrary to the Scriptures and that is marriage of two people of the same sex.”

“To force someone like that to give a license for something that will legalize, that will put a stamp of approval on something that is absolute rebellion against God, sinful, then that is a direct collision of unprecedented magnitude,” he continued, saying that requiring Davis to do her job is like requiring her “to grant a license to engage in pornography, to grant a license to sodomize children or something of that nature.”

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Sen. Ted Cruz Defends LGBT Discrimination Via “Religious Liberty” To Actress Ellen Page

Sen. Ted Cruz got catch in a heated exchange with out actress Ellen Page at the Iowa State Fair over “religious liberty” laws which become a license to discriminate against LGBTs.

Page began by asking the senator, who was wearing an apron and grilling pork chops, his opinion on Americans losing their jobs for “just strictly being gay or trans.”

“What we’re seeing right now, we’re seeing Bible-believing Christians being persecuted for living according to their faith,” Cruz said.

“For discriminating against LGBT people,” Page responded.

“Now I’m happy to answer your question, but not to have a back-and-forth debate,” said Cruz.

Cruz brought up Dick and Betty Odgaard, an Iowa couple who stopped renting their art gallery for weddings after a long legal battle for refusing to host a same-sex wedding. “No one has the right to force someone else to abandon their faith and their conscience,” Cruz said.

The presidential hopeful also pivoted to bring up the serious anti-gay oppression is occurring in Islamic states. “ISIS is executing gay people, Iran is executing homosexuals, and on the left you hear complete silence about Iran hanging homosexuals,” he said.

I would disagree that there has been silence on the issue of LGBTs being killed by ISIS.

In the end, this stands as what may be the most substantive discussion on LGBT rights in the presidential campaign thus far.

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Sen. Ted Cruz Twists The Facts To “Defend” Religious Liberty

GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz takes Dick & Betty Odgaard of Grimes, Iowa, on a martyr tour trying to portray the couple as “victims” of the LGBT movement.

The Odgaards made news in 2013 when they turned away a gay couple who inquired about having their wedding at the gallery.

You’ll note how Cruz continually uses the word “church” to describe the building the couple owns. But the fact is, the BUSINESS the Odgaard’s own is not a religion-based business at all. They purchased the building in 2002 and operated the space as the Gortz Haus Gallery, an art gallery which also rented out for weddings.

Cruz also skips over the fact that Iowa has a very clear public accommodation law that bans discriminating against folks based on sexual orientation, just as you can’t turn away customers based on race or religion.

“Open for business” means open to all.

Eventually, the couple stopped hosting any weddings at all to avoid having to provide services to “the gays.”

Not sure how Cruz thinks this old story will cut through the clutter of the ongoing Trump campaign train.

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Mike Huckabee: I Will Prosecute Critics Of Religious Freedoms Via Executive Order

In a Fox News op-ed, GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee swears to silence critics of “religious liberty” via executive orders:

On Day One of my administration, I will use the power of the presidency to protect and defend people of all faiths in all fifty states.

First, I will sign religious liberty executive orders that support traditional marriage and protect businesses, churches, non-profits, schools and universities, hospitals, and other organizations from discrimination, intimidation, civil penalties, or criminal attacks for exercising their religious beliefs.

Second, I will direct the attorney general to protect religious liberty and prosecute any violations of First Amendment rights of individuals, businesses, religious organizations, institutions, and civil servants, including those who believe in traditional marriage.

The Justice Department will protect and defend the rights of American citizens to follow their religious convictions without discrimination, and prosecute attacks on people of faith and their religious liberty.

I will aggressively prosecute attacks against people of faith as hate crimes.

Third, I will direct the Secretary of Defense to support military chaplains as well as servicemen and servicewomen who actively exercise their faith and not force them to participate in ceremonies they find objectionable on religious grounds. I will defend people of faith in every branch of our military. People of faith will not be punished for serving their country and sacrificing to keep us free.

I will use executive orders and the power of the presidency to protect and defend the Constitution–especially religious liberty, which is the heart of the First Amendment.

Of course, first he needs to become the GOP nominee.

And then, he has to be elected president.

Which isn’t going to happen.

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Indiana Gov. Mike Pence Unable To Say Discriminating Against Gays Should Be Illegal

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence made a disasterous appearance on ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos to “clarify” his state’s new bill which has been called a “license to discriminate” against LGBT folks.

It’s almost painful to watch as George repeatedly asks for a yes or no answer to the question: does this new law make it legal for a florist to refuse to serve a gay couple? At least three times, Pence pivoted away from the question and refused to address it.

George asked if adding LGBT folks to the state’s civil rights protected classes might be an avenue the state could take to “prove” the law isn’t about discriminating against gays? Pence said that wasn’t on his agenda.

Finally, at the 9:52 mark, George asks flat-out (easy answer here, kids): “Governor, do you think it should be legal to discriminate against gays and lesbians in Indiana?”

Pence takes a long pause – that was where he should have said “No, of course not!” – and pivoted away from the question one last time.

Pence simply couldn’t bring himself to answer the question. Over and over and over again.

This appearance didn’t help his cause in any way. Watch the supercut of his appearance showing the 8 times he refused to say whether the law discriminated against gays and lesbians. You can watch the full interview here.

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Audra McDonald Tweets Indiana Governor Over Anti-Gay “Religious Freedom” Law

Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed sweeping anti-gay “religious freedom” legislation into law today.

And with concerts coming up in the Hoosier state, six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald took to Twitter to school the conservative governor over the anti-gay law.

This made my night…

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Frank Bruni On Faux “Religious Freedom vs Marriage Equality” Argument

“I’ve been called many unpleasant things in my life, and I’ve deserved no small number of them. But I chafe at this latest label: A threat to your religious liberty.

“I don’t mean me alone. I mean me and my evidently menacing kind: men who have romantic relationships with other men and maybe want to marry them, and women in analogous situations. According to many of the Americans who still cast judgment on us, our ‘I do’ somehow tramples you, not merely running counter to your creed but running roughshod over it.

“That’s absurd. And the deference that many politicians show to such thinking is an example not of religion getting the protection it must but of religious people getting a pass that isn’t warranted.

“As these lamentations about religious liberty get tossed around, it’s worth remembering that racists have used the same argument to try to perpetuate segregation. Esseks noted that even after the Civil Rights Act, the owner of the Piggie Park restaurant chain in South Carolina maintained that he could refuse to serve black people because his religion forbade the mixing of races. The courts were unimpressed.

“I respect people of faith. I salute the extraordinary works of compassion and social justice that many of them and many of their churches do… And I support the right of people to believe what they do and say what they wish — in their pews, homes and hearts. But outside of those places? You must put up with me, just as I put up with you.”

— New York Times op-ed columnist Frank Bruni, writing on the false conservative argument of “marriage equality vs. religious freedom.”