The president, Congress, and State of Alabama each took steps this week that could harm our families. There was one spot of good news, however.
President Trump signed an executive order that blurs the lines between politics and religion and could permit broad discrimination and limit access to reproductive healthcare. The CEO of Family Equality Council, Rev. Stan Sloan, who is also an Episcopal priest, commented:
This order, and the President’s remarks at the signing ceremony, are yet another development in the disturbing pattern of religious exemption bills and policies surfacing at the state and federal levels. These religious exemptions undermine protections for LGBTQ families in general, and they disproportionately impact those living on low incomes or who are otherwise vulnerable. As an Episcopal priest, I am deeply disturbed by the hijacking of religious faith to justify political and social discrimination.
Over in Congress, the House passed a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which could mean higher costs for people with pre-existing conditions. I personally know several families with children who have such conditions, and for whom coverage is a matter of life and death. The repeal has yet to pass the Senate, so contact your members of Congress now to thank them, berate them, or urge them to vote against repeal, as appropriate, and see what other actions you can take.
This week, too, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed into law a bill that allows faith-based adoption agencies to harm children by discriminating against LGBTQ prospective parents, single parents, divorced parents, parents of particular religions (or in interfaith marriages), or others who go against their religious beliefs. Proponents say that forcing agencies to close rather than to comply with nondiscrimination laws causes harm by reducing the number of agencies available to serve children, but for my newspaper column a few weeks ago, I spoke with Emily Hecht-McGowan of Family Equality Council, who explained why this isn’t so.
On a better note, this week also saw the reintroduction of the Equality Act in both houses of Congress. This would offer clear and equal clear and equal federal protections for LGBTQ people in “employment, access to public spaces, housing, credit, education, jury service, and federally-funded programs,” as HRC tells us. It is sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island) and Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), and Cory Booker (D-New Jersey).
The Act is definitely a good thing, but I fear it won’t have a snowball’s chance in a Republican-controlled Congress. Then again, HRC also notes that the Act is co-sponsored not only by 241 members of Congress, but also by 92 major corporations that have “combined operations in all 50 states, headquarters spanning 23 states, and collectively generate $2.6 trillion in revenue. In total, these companies employ more than 5.8 million people across the United States.” Perhaps with a business person at the helm of our country, that will carry even more weight than before. And fear of failure is no reason to stop trying.