A Blessing To Discriminate

That is what the Republican controlled legislature has done in Texas.

Texas Senate kicks off fight over religious exemptions
The Statesman
By Chuck Lindell
March 25, 2019

Opening what promises to be one of the most contentious fights of the 2019 legislative session, a Senate committee on Monday approved a bill to give state-licensed professionals — including doctors, lawyers, pharmacists and barbers — broad protection for actions taken according to their religious beliefs.

Opponents said the bill, and more than a dozen similar measures that have not yet been acted upon, would give religious people, particularly conservative Christians, the power to discriminate against gay, lesbian and transgender people as well as anyone they don’t want to do business with or serve.

But supporters of Senate Bill 17 — including its Republican author, Sen. Charles Perry — said the protections are needed to ensure that licensing agencies do not discriminate against religious professionals by forcing them to do something that violates their beliefs.

“Living our faith does not stop when we start to work,” Perry, R-Lubbock, told the Senate State Affairs Committee during Monday’s hearing on SB 17.

The Republicans are doing everything they can to force us back in the closet.

And look what other bills they are trying to pass down in Texas.

Monday’s hearing was the legislative session’s first action on more than a dozen Republican bills that would create faith-based exemptions. They include:

• SB 1107 by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, and House Bill 2892 by Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, would allow medical professionals to refuse nonemergency treatment that violates their religious beliefs.

• HB 4512 by Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, would let individuals decline to participate in gay marriage ceremonies or provide goods or services for use in a same-sex marriage.

• SB 1009 by Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, and HB 2109 by Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Canton, would allow state and local judges to refuse to perform marriages that are opposed by their religion.

• Named the Free to Believe Act, HB 1035 by Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, would let marriage-related businesses refuse to serve same-sex couples, allow county clerks to opt out of providing same-sex marriage certificates, outlaw local regulations requiring transgender-friendly bathrooms and let religious groups refuse to hire or rent to those whose actions or beliefs conflict with the group’s faith.

• SB 1978 by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, and HB 3172 by Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, would bar local governments and state agencies from taking “any adverse action” based on a person’s religious belief or moral conviction.

• SB 880, also by Hughes, would let university organizations limit membership to those who comply with the group’s religious beliefs or standards of conduct.

• HB 4497 by Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, would prohibit state agencies and local governments from punishing people or businesses that decline to provide “marriage-related goods and services.”

• SB 85 by Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, would let therapists decline to provide mental health services based on the counselor’s religious beliefs, if a referral to another professional is made.

• HB 4357 by Rep. Scott Sanford, R-McKinney, would prohibit punishing counselors who provide faith-based treatment. Opponents fear the bill would support “conversion therapy,” which treats being gay as a curable condition and puts patients at risk of harm, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

This gets me so mad, there is so much hate against us, they should be called “freedom to discriminate” laws. They are creating two sets of laws? One for religious bigots and one for everyone else.

But there are some very powerfully allies speaking up for us.

Amazon, Google, Facebook pen letter opposing Texas bills 'that allow for the exclusion of LGBTQ people'
Dallas News
By Lauren McGaughy, Texas Government Reporter
March 27, 2019

AUSTIN — Apple, Dell, PepsiCo and several other businesses, tourism groups and chambers of commerce have penned a letter to Texas lawmakers criticizing bills they say would hurt the state's economy and target the LGBT community.

"We will continue to oppose any unnecessary, discriminatory, and divisive measures that would damage Texas' reputation and create problems for our employees and their families," the letter reads. "These include policies that explicitly or implicitly allow for the exclusion of LGBTQ people, or anyone else."
Apple, Amazon, Facebook, HP and PayPal also signed the letter, as did the Dallas, McKinney, Plano and Richardson chambers of commerce and the Dallas and Fort Worth convention and visitors bureaus.

The business coalition held a news conference Wednesday at which it specifically targeted two of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's  priorities.

Senate Bill 15, which aims to do away with local sick leave policies, would also undo city rules that prohibit discrimination for its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens, the coalition said. Senate Bill 17, which would give legal cover to occupational license holders who cite sincerely held religious beliefs to turn away clients or refuse services to certain people, also drew the businesses' opposition.

We just want to live our lives that God gave us but the Republicans use their power to push their hate, bigotry, and spitefulness to try pass these laws. If you vote Republican you condone this behavior, you are an enabler.