The Down Low

GOP: passes anti-LGBTQ laws.

LGBTQ: fight back

GOP: accuses LGBTQ people of being combative

All across the nation the Republicans and passing these horrible anti-LGBTQ ignoring what medical people are saying. Passing laws that violate the Constitution with no qualms. Throwing out duly elected officials. Censoring party members that don’t tow the party line.

But tell me, what are the Republicans going to do about;

The price of gas?

What are they going do about Medicare?

What are they going to do about Social Security?

Balancing the budget, what are they going to cut? Are they going to cut taxes on the rich or raise the ta taxes for the rich?

We already know what they are going to do about abortions.

We already know what they are going to do about us.

Their agenda is not in helping the people but in punishing the LGBTQ+ community because we just want to survive. But that is too much for the Republicans they want make an example of us.

Stop and think for a second, what were the NAZI doing in the 1930s? The exact same thing that they did with the Jews, the disabled, the Romani, and us in the LGBTQ+ community.

Did you know that in Germany back then they shut down gay nightclubs, sound familiar?

Russia and Hungary have passed anti-LGBTQ+ laws just like the ones the Republicans have passed.

The Worrying Regression Of LGBT Rights In Eastern Europe

Radio Free Europe

By Tony Wesolowsky

December 23, 2021

From physical attacks to online abuse and legislative setbacks, the LBGT community in Central and Eastern Europe had little to cheer about in 2021.

Populist governments in Poland, Hungary, and elsewhere were able to exploit frustrations and fears, some stoked by church leaders, some by the grinding COVID-19 pandemic, to push through anti-LGBT legislation.

It was, however, part of a wider trend over a wider swath of Europe, argues Evelyne Paradis, executive director of the European branch of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe).

"Poland and Hungary are not anomalies. In the past year, we've seen increased political repression against LGBT people, a stark rise in socioeconomic hardship, and the spreading of LGBT-phobic hatred on the streets and online across the region," Paradis told RFE/RL in e-mailed comments.

The conservatives all around the globe are attacking us! We are their scapegoats, we are their root of all evil. Just like the 1930s. They need something to stir up the rabble against us.

They ignored the referendum of the voters, NPR wrote in August of last year,

"The people of Kansas have spoken," said Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for the group. "They think that abortion should be safe, legal and accessible in the state of Kansas."

[…]

Republican state Sen. Molly Baumgardner, who supported sending the amendment to voters, said abortion opponents will need to look at new restrictions to try to decrease the number of abortions in the state.

"The defeat this evening is disappointing," she said. "That struggle for truth, and the struggle for life, is going to continue in the state of Kansas."

In Kentucky the people also spoke up, the BBC reported,

The result here follows three other pro-choice victories in this year's midterm elections: Vermont, Michigan and California have all enshrined the right to abortion in their constitution.

However, in Kentucky the result won't automatically reverse the state's current legislation, which almost entirely prohibits abortion.

We know best, not the voters!

In Ohio and Missouri Republicans tried to make it harder to pass a constitutional amendments in those states after a rash of failed amendments in other states.

The answer to counter this is the ballot box we have to turn out like we have never done before. Our lives depend upon it.

They don’t want to represent they want to rule!

They know better than the voters.

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A snowballs chance in hell!

I just got an email from Lambda Legal about a new bill that has just been introduced…

“As the Supreme Court gets ready possibly to expand even further the ability of businesses to use religion to discriminate, the federal RFRA law absolutely needs this fix.” 

Today, U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) re-introduced the Do No Harm Act, a long-overdue correction to the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which amends the law to clarify that it does not permit the use of religion to discriminate, impose religious beliefs, deny others specified goods or services, or inflict dignitary or other harm on others. Lambda Legal Chief Legal Officer Jennifer C. Pizer issued the following statement: 

“Since long before the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement even started, our communities, women, and other marginalized groups have been targeted by religion-based condemnation and restriction of equal opportunities. In recent years, too many of those who oppose the equality and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people have misused religion in their demands for exemptions from rules that should protect everyone at work, at school, in medical offices, and in social services.

[…]

“We today are awaiting the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 303 Creative v. Elenis, where a Colorado website designer wants a free speech right to advertise her intent to discriminate and then to refuse service to same-sex couples. As the Supreme Court gets ready possibly to expand even further the ability of businesses to shun LGBTQ+ people in the commercial marketplace, it spotlights the ongoing problem of  religious divisions in public life. Misinterpretation of the federal RFRA law is a big part of that problem and why it absolutely needs this fix. Congress never intended RFRA to become, perversely, a tool for imposing religious orthodoxy and discrimination. The Do No Harm Act is an urgently needed course correction. 

“For those who hold dear the religious freedom concepts that inspired our Constitution’s framers, this bill should be a welcome reaffirmation of the do-no-harm-to-others principle that motivated passage of RFRA in the first place back in 1993. The fast-growing movement of those misusing religion for discrimination shows the urgent need for Congress to reaffirm that principle by passing this bill.”

On Rep. Bobby Scott government webpage he writes…

“When Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993, it was intended to protect religious exercise—not to erode civil rights under the guise of religious freedom.  Regrettably, we have seen RFRA repeatedly used to attack civil rights protections, deny access to health care, and allow discrimination in federal contracts and programs,” said Ranking Member Scott. “The Do No Harm Act simply provides that RFRA cannot be used to limit access to health care, deny services supported by taxpayer dollars, or undermine the Civil Rights Act or other anti-discrimination protections.  Congress must take this critical step to ensure no one can weaponize religious freedom to erode our fundamental civil and legal rights.”

“The right to practice one’s religion should not come at the cost of depriving others of their civil rights,” said Sen. Booker. “That is why I am proud to join my colleagues in reintroducing the Do No Harm Act, which would protect religious freedom and ensure no one can weaponize it to deny others access to health care, government-funded services, and protections under the Civil Rights Act.”

“An honest application of a civil rights law doesn’t infringe on the civil rights of others, and doesn’t pit one group’s rights against the legitimate rights of another’s. The Do No Harm Act protects the original intent of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and corrects the courts’ misguided interpretations that have allowed the religious rights of some to be used to undermine the civil rights of others,” said Rep. Cohen, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee.

“Your freedom to exercise your religion does not give you the right to violate your fellow Americans’ basic equal rights,” said Rep. Raskin. “The Do No Harm Act makes an essential clarification to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, prohibiting weaponization of the law by bad-faith actors who want to redefine freedom of religious conscience as license to discriminate. I’m grateful to my House and Senate partners in this effort who recognize that freedom from discrimination is foundational to both equality and religious liberty itself.”

Okay everyone. Raise your hand if you think that the Republicans will vote for this bill?

The Middle Tennessee State University wrote this about the law,

Congress adopted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993 to override the Supreme Court decision in Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith (1990) and provide greater protection under the First Amendment free exercise clause.

[…]

In Smith, the Court upheld a decision by an Oregon state agency to deny unemployment benefits to two Native Americans who were dismissed from drug counseling jobs because they had tested positive for peyote, a hallucinogenic drug. Both men had ingested the drug in a Native American religious ceremony.

And out of that law that was passed for well intended purpose the courts have ruled that the law nullifies the anti-discrimination laws.