Last Friday, the Democrat controlled US House of Representatives passed H.R. 5, the Equality Act. That sounds like a noble title. We are a nation of laws and they should be applied in an equal manner.

As with many laws passed in Congress, the name is deceptive. It purports to provide protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The truth is that it is an assault on religious freedom and it directly attacks the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

If you live in Southwest Georgia, you may wonder how your Congressman voted. Sanford Bishop not only voted for it, he was a proud co-sponsor.

The Equality Act amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act to elevate sexual orientation and gender identify to the same status as “race, color, religion, or national origin”. It would now read, “race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), or national origin.” There are other significant changes to the Civil Rights Act.

The Civil Rights Act has a lengthy list of establishments where discrimination is prohibited. The Equality Act adds:

• “stadium or other place of or establishment that provides exhibition, entertainment, recreation, exercise, amusement, public gathering, or public display.”
• “any establishment that provides a good, service, or program, including a store, shopping center, online retailer or service provider, salon, bank, gas station, food bank, service or care center, shelter, travel agency, or funeral parlor, or establishment that provides health care, accounting, or legal services.”

It goes further to re-define the word establishment to include, “an individual whose operations affect commerce and who is a provider of a good, service, or program; and (2) shall not be construed to be limited to a physical facility or place.”

It expands the list of establishments and goods and services so that just about anything anywhere is caught in its net. A church or private school that has a gym or family life center would be included. Even broader is “public gathering or public display.”

Under the services it also expands the list by slipping in new ones. Among them are service centers, care centers, shelters, travel agency, and health care.

In Anchorage, Alaska in January 2018, Timothy “Samantha” Coyle, who identifies himself as a female, attempted to enter the Downtown Hope Center. It is a Christian shelter for homeless and battered women. They sleep on mats on the floor and take them up during the day to have room for other programs.

Coyle was drunk and injured from a fight. The Hope Center staff obtained transportation to the hospital for him. The next day he again showed up outside of the hours for overnight admission. Two days later he filed a complaint with the city’s Equal Rights Commission claiming that Hope Center, as a “public accommodation,” discriminated against him because of gender identity.

The Equality Act re-defines the term, “establishment” to include individuals. This is clearly targeting cases such as the cake baker, Jack Phillips, in Colorado. He designs custom cakes and declined to design a cake for a same-sex wedding. The state of Colorado charged him with discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Supreme Court ruled in his favor.

The day after the Supreme Court ruling, a transgender lawyer came to Phillips requesting that he design a cake to celebrate a gender transition. When Phillips refused, the state of Colorado again charged him with discrimination.

This time it was on the basis of gender identity. Phillips responded with a lawsuit against the state for harassment. Eventually the case was dropped.

Section 1107 targets the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act by name. It says that act “shall not provide a claim concerning, or a defense to a claim.”

This law has nothing to do with equality. We can already see the consequences of this law based on what has happened with similar municipal ordinances and state laws, such as Colorado’s.

Americans do not care to know about a person’s sexual orientation. They definitely have no interest in making a biological determination of someone’s gender. Neither do they wish to allow someone decide that they will “identify” as the opposite sex and invade the privacy of others.

The bill now goes to the Senate. I trust that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will exile the bill to the island of misfit law where it belongs.

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