A leaked draft of an executive order that would legalize discrimination against LGBT people and others on the basis of religious beliefs is causing alarm. Some are suggesting Trump could sign it following the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, which he is attending.
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Read a PDF of the draft HERE.
The Nation reports on the draft:
The four-page draft order, a copy of which is currently circulating among federal staff and advocacy organizations, construes religious organizations so broadly that it covers “any organization, including closely held for-profit corporations,” and protects “religious freedom” in every walk of life: “when providing social services, education, or healthcare; earning a living, seeking a job, or employing others; receiving government grants or contracts; or otherwise participating in the marketplace, the public square, or interfacing with Federal, State or local governments.”
The draft order seeks to create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious or moral objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity, and it seeks to curtail women's access to contraception and abortion through the Affordable Care Act.
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The contents of the leaked document are draconian and chilling:
Language in the draft document specifically protects the tax-exempt status of any organization that “believes, speaks, or acts (or declines to act) in accordance with the belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, sexual relations are properly reserved for such a marriage, male and female and their equivalents refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy, physiology, or genetics at or before birth, and that human life begins at conception and merits protection at all stages of life.”
More on this as it develops…
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This draft EO is a sweeping and dangerous license to discriminate and an attack on LGBTQ Americans. https://t.co/FlxLIDuPQ9
— Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) February 2, 2017
