Equality Act: Combating Christians and coercing churches

By Robert G. Marshall ( bio - articles - email ) | Apr 09, 2021

The so-called Equality Act, HR 5, pushed by President Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will prevent churches which follow sexual morality as taught by Moses and Jesus Christ from obtaining commercial bank loans. Individuals who abide by the same teaching will see their employment opportunities severely curtailed under the bogus Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) provisions of HR 5.

No construction loans for Christian churches, schools, charities

The Equality Act adds “sexual orientation and gender identity” to prohibited classes of discrimination in public accommodations [see HR5, Sec. 3, (a) (1)]. A “public accommodation” is “any establishment that provides a good, service, or program….” [HR5, Sec. 3, (a) (4)]

A loan application for a church building in which only one man and one woman couples could be married; or a private, religious school which would not hire “married” same sex persons as teachers; or a senior retirement apartment building that houses heterosexual married couples only; or a shelter for battered biological women but not “trans” women; or, a building where wedding receptions are only held for male and female couples: These would all be denied bank loans because of illegal “discrimination” per the 1964 Civil Rights Act as modified by the Equality Act’s SOGI conditions.

The 2019 Judiciary Committee Report on the Equality Act (Report 116-56, Part 1, p. 81) provides that, “It shall be unlawful for any creditor to discriminate against any applicant, with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction…on the basis of…sex including sexual orientation and gender identity.”

If a Christian college wanted to: build dormitories for married students, but they limited occupancy to one man and one woman married couples; construct a sports stadium but did not allow males claiming to be females to compete in the same athletic events; construct a gymnasium, but refused to abide by the provision of the Equality Act that “an individual shall not be denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual’s gender identity”: Again, in all such cases, no loan could be issued. [HR 5, Equality Act, Sec. 1101, Definitions and Rules. Rules, (2), p. 21]

Joe Biden has no problem compelling our daughters to shower with the guys. Indeed, former Washington Post correspondent, author Ronald Kessler, in his book The First Family Detail, wrote that Secret Service “agents say that, whether at the vice president’s residence or at his home in Delaware, Biden has a habit of swimming in his pool nude. Female Secret Service agents find the behavior offensive.”

SOGI prohibitions treated the same as racial discrimination

The Supreme Court ruled in 1964 that refusing to rent motel rooms to African Americans was illegal discrimination because the Civil Rights law required that, “All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities…of any place of public accommodation…without discrimination on the ground of race….” [379 U.S. 241] The Equality Act cites this same Supreme Court Heart of Atlanta case (HR 5, p. 12) to justify prohibiting discrimination on SOGI grounds in hotels and everywhere else.

Under the Equality Act, a church is defined as a “public accommodation.” If it declines to hire same-sex “married” teachers based on behavior which violates church moral teaching, that church would be acting illegally under the Equality Act, and could be fined up to $500,000 per violation.

In Bob Jones University v. United States (461 U.S. 574) the Supreme Court held that colleges or schools which racially discriminated in admissions based on religious doctrine did not qualify as tax exempt organizations under the IRS Code, nor were contributions to such groups tax-deductible. By the same reasoning, religious institutions under the Equality Act will lose their tax exempt status if they engage in newly designated “illegal” activities such as witnessing a marriage between a man and a woman, but not providing “marriage services” to same sex couples.

Other problems: Some Jewish congregations do not allow men and women to sit in the same section of a synagogue. Any such sex distinction is also illegal under the Equality Act. College students with federally subsidized loans or scholarships will not be able to use them for tuition at religious affiliated colleges which follow the moral teachings of Moses or Jesus Christ on sexual morality. While clerics cannot be “compelled” to change their moral teaching or religious practices, they will not be eligible for commercial bank loans, tax exempt status or student government scholarships.

Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) does not apply

Section 1007 of the Equality Act expressly forbids reliance on the protections of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a legal defense against complying with SOGI requirements!

University of Virginia law school professor Douglas Laycock, who supports same sex marriage and federal LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination laws, does NOT support the Equality Act. Professor Laycock noted (5/17/19) that the Equality Act:

goes very far to stamp out religious exemptions…. It regulates religious non-profits. And then it says that…[RFRA]…does not apply to any claim under the Equality Act. This would be the first time Congress has limited the reach of RFRA. This is not a good-faith attempt to reconcile competing interests. It is an attempt by one side to grab all the disputed territory and to crush the other side.

Equality Act and employment

It is questionable if any employment arrangement would escape the SOGI requirements of the Equality Act. Speaker Pelosi noted (5/19/20) that passage of the Equality Act will ensure that: “all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, are treated equally under law—not just in the workplace, but in every place.”

Further, HR 5 would affect any and all of the following:

stadium or other place or establishment that provides exhibition, entertainment, recreation, exercise, amusement, public gathering, or public display…any establishment that provides a good, service, or program, including a store, shopping center, online retailer or service provider, salon, bank, gas station, food bank, service or care center, shelter, travel agency, or funeral parlor, or establishment that provides health care, accounting, or legal services….

The Equality Act defines “establishment” as “an individual whose operations affect commerce and who is a provider of a good, service, or program; and shall not be…limited to a physical facility or place.” [Equality Act, Sec. 3, Public Accommodations, (a) (2) (a); (4); and Sec. 208 Rule of Construction, (1) (2)] Passing the Equality Act means that Americans should prepare for sexual attitude indoctrination and compliance mandates reminiscent of Soviet and Chinese Communist “education” practices.

Background of the Equality Act

Rolling Stone Magazine (6/23/17) references Joe Biden’s presence at a May 2016 political fundraiser at a penthouse apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan, which 30 of America’s most active, rich and influential LGBTQ+ political campaign donors attended. “‘Now is not the time to go sit on the sidelines,’ Joe Biden thunders, slamming his fist on a podium…. ‘We need to push—and push hard.’”

Biden thanked the men and women in the audience for their efforts so far. But there is one person he singled out by name. Biden called him “incredible”. He was referring to mega-rich LGBTQ+ activist, Tim Gill, who had donated more than $440 million to make “same-sex marriage” legal and to secure passage of so-called LGBTQ+ state non-discrimination laws. Gill had stated: “We’re going to punish the wicked.” Gill was referring to serious followers of Moses and/or Jesus Christ who think homosexual behavior is sinful.

The LGBTQ lobby sees Christian denominations as the main impediment to achieving full social acceptance of homosexual behavior. New York Times columnist Frank Bruni, noted:

Homosexuality and Christianity don’t have to be in conflict in any church…. Our debate about religious freedom should include a conversation about freeing religions and religious people from prejudices…. Religion is...the final holdout…for homophobia. It will give license to discrimination…. Mitchell Gold, a prominent…gay philanthropist…told me that church leaders must be made “to take homosexuality off the sin list.”

Removing homosexual behavior or any other vice from the “sin list” is not within the competence of human authority. Every person is on the “sin list” for one or more vices. Every church is brimming with sinners of one kind or another. In fact there are only sinners in churches. That is the human condition. The main difference between the LGBTQ lobby and authentic Christian believers is repentance and sorrow. Yet LGBTQ+ leaders voice their demands in terms of “love” and accepting homosexuals as persons, when in fact what they really want is unconditional acceptance of homosexual behavior. And they believe the Equality Act will accomplish their goal.

It is hardly “love” of neighbor for the homosexual lobby to enact laws that will bankrupt churches and religious charitable organizations that simply seek to continue a 2,000 year old tradition of caring for the sick and elderly, finding adoptive or foster parents for needy children, running food banks and homeless shelters and operating private schools. They follow the path marked out by the Creator of the Universe for our earthly happiness and eternal life, the timeless understanding and truth that marriage is a relationship between one man and one women and that children deserve a mother and a father.

Action essential

The Equality Act has passed the House of Representatives and is before the U. S. Senate. The Senate can take it up at any time.

It is urgent that Americans call, write or email their two U. S. Senators today, and respectfully demand that they oppose the Equality Act which is designed to bankrupt churches, and to eliminate individual and institutional Christian influence from American society.

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