Equality California: FADA Hearing is Slap in the Face to the LGBT Community
Los Angeles – In response to today’s congressional hearing on the so-called First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur issued the following statement:
“Today, congressional leaders delivered a slap in the face to the LGBT community.
This bill would turn back the clock on hard-won LGBT civil rights protections in California and across the country, allowing virtually anyone to discriminate against an LGBT person on a thin pretext of personal religious beliefs. Married same-sex couples could be denied the same benefits their heterosexual co-workers receive. Landlords could refuse to rent to same-sex couples – or even to co-habitating heterosexual couples.
The First Amendment is not under attack. FADA gives a federal stamp of approval to the same discrimination the LGBT community has been fighting for years. Congressional leaders ignored the pleas of more than 70 LGBT and allied organizations to change the date of this hearing. We urge them now to reject this regressive and hateful bill.”
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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization dedicated to creating a fair and just society. Our mission is to achieve and maintain full and lasting equality, acceptance and social justice for all people in our diverse LGBT communities, inside and outside of California. Our mission includes advancing the health and well-being of LGBT Californians through direct healthcare service advocacy and education. Through electoral, advocacy, education and mobilization programs, we strive to create a broad and diverse alliance of LGBT people, educators, government officials, communities of color and faith, labor, business, and social justice communities to achieve our goals. www.eqca.org