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Foxx votes to protect religious liberty, state marriage laws
Washington, DC,
November 7, 2007
Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (NC-05) today voted to protect religious liberty and the states’ rights to define, protect, and preserve the institution of marriage. In voting against HR 3685, Rep. Foxx opposed language in the bill that would
Contact: Aaron Groen Rep. Foxx opposes language in HR 3685 that undermines Americans’ religious rights Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (NC-05) today voted to protect religious liberty and the states’ rights to define, protect, and preserve the institution of marriage. In voting against HR 3685, Rep. Foxx opposed language in the bill that would infringe on Americans’ First Amendment rights and that would force employers with moral beliefs on homosexuality to disavow their beliefs. “HR 3685 is a bill that undermines our nation’s religious freedom and does not offer adequate protections to business and organizations with religious convictions,” Rep. Foxx said. “In effect, this bill attempts to create a new protected class while at the same penalizing Americans for their decision to practice their religion.” HR 3685 contains vague, undefined “protections” that will open the door to costly litigation. The bill seeks to prohibit discrimination on the basis of “perceived” sexual orientation, yet the term is not defined in the bill. Employers will be held liable for their perception of an employee, with virtually no way to disprove the allegations of what they did or did not perceive. The term “perceived” is not contained in existing civil rights law, which protects against discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The addition of this language is a departure from the nation’s existing laws. “Discrimination is a real issue in our society, but watering down the concept of protection against discrimination to include ‘perceived’ sexual orientation is a serious mistake that will only lead to rampant, costly litigation,” Foxx said. “It looks like trial lawyers will benefit most from this legislation—all at the cost of the religious freedoms of millions of Americans and many religious educational institutions.” The bill’s exemption of religious organizations fails to include all religious educational institutions and as a result fails to shield them from the bill’s infringement on religious beliefs. By doing so it fails to provide religious organizations the hiring protections to which they are entitled under the Civil Rights Act. ### |