While I typically address issues occurring within our own state of Missouri, I think it necessary to address an issue that, though happening in Washington DC, is of great impact to all Missourians.
On June 21, Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) introduced HR15, better known as the “Equality Act”. There are 214 co-sponsors of the Equality Act, all of them Democrats, and among them are Rep. Cori Bush and Rep. Emanual Cleaver, both from Missouri.
While the Equality Act has a nice sounding name, it does not promote equality at all. Instead, it gives special rights and privileges to people who choose to live a perverted lifestyle, and marginalizes women, children and people of faith. It also vitiates and criminalizes those who would seek to protect women, children, and people of faith.
The Equality Act would reverse recent legislation passed in our Missouri General Assembly – namely SB49, which bans puberty blockers and transgender surgeries for minors, and SB39, which protects women’s sports in Missouri schools.
The Equality Act would also undo Missouri’s SB775 (2022) which protects our kids from pornographic material in our schools and public libraries. In fact, the Equality Act would make it illegal to challenge the presence of pornographic LGBTQ+ books being made available to our kids.
As if the foregoing weren’t bad enough, the Equality Act would also strip churches and their various ministries of any religious freedom protections in regard to hiring, housing, or other actions.
In fact, the bill specifically states: “The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.) shall not provide a claim concerning, or a defense to a claim under, a covered title, or provide a basis for challenging the application or enforcement of a covered title.”
In other words, a church could not refuse to hire a homosexual or transgender person on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity – even if that person were applying for a ministerial role, such as youth minister or even pastor! This is a clear violation of the 1st amendment to the US Constitution, but litigating that could take years and the damage done in the meantime is unthinkable.
Rather than sitting on the sidelines and waiting for (hoping for) the courts to settle the issue – which in itself is risky as no one knows the make-up of the Supreme Court several years into the future – it is time to contact our representatives now.
When the Equality Act was voted on in the US House of Representatives in 2022 (yes, it has been brought up before), all members of Congress from Missouri voted against it except for Bush and Cleaver. Thus, if you are in a congressional district other than Bush or Cleaver’s it would be prudent to contact your Representative and encourage them to stand strong against the Equality Act as they have before. If you are in Rep Bush’s or Cleaver’s District it would be especially important to contact them and remind them that they are to represent you.