Supporters of the Equality Act claim it will increase equality in America, but it will actually harm one of the most fundamental rights we all share as Americans religious freedom. It purports to ban discrimination, but it actually bans disagreement.
If passed, the law will damage not only the priceless American achievement of religious freedom for all, but also its indispensable progeny: pluralism, limited government, and unity.
The Act, which was introduced in Congress earlier this year and is scheduled for a vote on the House floor Friday, would add sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) to classes protected under the Civil Rights Act, such as race and sex. Proponents assert a faulty analogy between SOGI and race. Race is an immutable characteristic unconnected to distinctive behaviors or expressions. By contrast, behaviors and expressions are part of SOGI identities.
Can the rejection of SOGI behaviors and expressions be tolerated in America? In its decision legalizing same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court said yes. Many who deem same-sex marriage to be wrong reach that conclusion on decent and honorable religious and philosophical principles, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion.
The Equality Act assumes that those who have reached that conclusion are indecent and dishonorable....