![]() This in no way is meant to allow the LGBT community to be denied goods and services. So what this is is a targeted response to make sure that these vulnerable religious minorities and those who hold traditional views of marriage are not compelled by the government to do something that violates their belief. This law was passed in response to the Supreme Court's Obergefell decision creating this right to same-sex marriage. This law was passed to essentially protect the rights of people, of individuals, of business owners, who do not support LGBT people, to prevent them from having to serve a customer who might be gay. MARTIN: Let's turn to the law in Mississippi, if we could. They deserve to have their privacy protected. SHARP: Well, I don't think that's necessarily the case because this also applies to locker rooms, changing areas and things like that where individuals are in a state of undress. So there is no exposure to anyone's biological anatomy. When you're going into a woman's bathroom, everywhere around the world, you go into stalls. MARTIN: And I'm sorry to get into things that are so intimate, but it's an intimate law about very private issues. And so the North Carolina legislature and governor, seeing this and the impact this was going to have, took steps to reverse this and to make sure that across the state no individual would ever have to give up their right to privacy and be forced to share the same facilities as someone of the opposite sex. SHARP: The primary motivation was the city of Charlotte passing an ordinance that would have allowed, in all businesses and public schools and other facilities, men to use the same restrooms as girls and women. Can you explain what has been happening in North Carolina that you believe made this bill necessary? Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina, actually said Thursday that there was no need for a similar bill in her state. ![]() MARTIN: Let's start with the law in North Carolina that's garnered so much criticism. He's an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is an organization that backs religious freedom laws. To talk more about both these laws - the law in North Carolina and one in Mississippi - we brought in Matt Sharp. The same thing has happened over a new law in Mississippi designed to protect the religious beliefs of people who do not support same-sex marriage. The law requires people to use bathrooms that correlate to the gender listed on their birth certificates.Ī whole string of corporations and city governments around the country have raised their collective voice against this law. But late last week, he sent out a statement saying he's canceling that show because of a new law in North Carolina that he and other critics say is discriminatory. And I believe in a promised land.Īnd that is, of course, the legendary Bruce Springsteen who was supposed to hold a concert in Greensboro, N.C., tonight. Former ADF staffers now working for Sessions are believed to have helped in the creation of this task force.BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: (Singing) Mister, I ain't a boy. On July 30, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the creation of a so-called Religious Liberty Task Force, he mentioned Jack Phillips three times in his speech before Phillips spoke at the event. ![]() In January, Sara Hellwege, an ADF client, praised ADF as she spoke at the Department of Health and Human Services' announcement that it would attempt to allow doctors' morality to determine which patients will be treated. The group also appears to have close ties to the Trump administration, and their clients frequently speak at government events about ADF-style religious freedom. If anyone can claim a moral objection to someone else, it's hard to see how civil rights laws would be enforceable at all. These cases appear minor, but they could add up to a civil rights crisis - a Supreme Court ruling that anti-discrimination laws cannot be enforced if someone claims a religious or moral objection. These cases include a florist that refuses same-sex couples, a print shop that won't print t-shirts for Pride, and a video company that plans to expand into weddings but wants to announce it will only work for straight couples. ADF is using this army to find and push cases toward the Supreme Court to chip away at civil rights laws.
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