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Down With Discrimination: Broad Coalition Of 130 Organizations Asks President Obama To End Taxpayer-Funded Discrimination

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Down With Discrimination: Broad Coalition Of 130 Organizations Asks President Obama To End Taxpayer-Funded Discrimination

President Barack Obama’s White House website stresses that he is a civil rights president who is “leading the fight to protect everyone – no matter who you are, where you’re from, what you look like, or who you love.” Yet, the president continues to enforce a policy that allows taxpayer-funded religious discrimination. This troubling policy allows faith-based organizations to take government funds to perform social services for the public and ignore laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of religion.

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Texas County Clerk's Refusal To Issue Marriage Licenses To Same-Sex Couple Costs County Almost $44K

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Wherein the actions of one public official cost the taxpayers big time.

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Judge Grants Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis More Time For Her Appeal

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Well, here we are again: writing about Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who is embroiled in lawsuits because she refuses to do her job

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"I Refuse To Give Into Fear": Julian Bond's Inspiring Fight to End Religious Discrimination

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As we remember the civil rights pioneer Julian Bond a few days after his passing at age 75, we find that it is incredibly difficult to sum up his legacy in a single blog post. As co-founder and communications director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, he led young people in the fight for true equality in America. As co-founder, president and board member of the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of our many allies, he fought hate and bigotry and sought justice for those most vulnerable in our community. As chairman of the NAACP, he worked to educate Americans on the civil right movement and the battles fought by African-Americans across the country. He was a legislator, a teacher, and hero to many.

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Exciting New Regulations: Yes, It’s True

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The government has a longstanding practice of giving taxpayer money to faith-based organizations to provide social services. Last week, nine federal agencies proposed changes to the rules that currently govern those partnerships. These rule changes will implement several important religious liberty protections, including some that are aimed specifically at protecting our neighbors. 

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Colorado Court Correct To Uphold Anti-Discrimination Statute

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Businesses Do Not Have A Constitutional Right to Discriminate, Church-State Watchdog Says

The Colorado Court of Appeals has protected the constitutional rights of same-sex couples and ruled against a baker seeking a “religious freedom” right to discriminate, Americans United for Separation of Church and State says. Americans United had filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case.

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Kentucky Clerk Defies Injunction and Again Refuses to Issue Marriage Licenses

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If you're having trouble keeping up with the ongoing saga of Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk doggedly refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, you're not alone. Davis' discriminatory antics are coming fast and furious, and with today's latest outrage against decency and the rule of law, it's getting difficult to keep track. 

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Try, Try Again: Louisiana Rep. Plans To Float Discriminatory Bill A Second Time

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Perhaps unable to sense the prevailing mood of the country and its courts, Rep. Mike Johnson plans on taking another crack at presenting a RFRA bill to the Louisiana legislature in 2016.

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Big Bill: S.C. Ordered To Pay $135,000 In Legal Fees After Losing Marriage Equality Case

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Now that marriage equality is officially on the books in the United States, the bills racked up by state officials who decided to listen to the Religious Right in defense of a lost cause are coming due. One of those debts is apparently pretty large, as a federal judge just ordered South Carolina to pay $135,000 in fees.

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Texas Judge Takes Down Roadblocks to Marriage Equality in Denton County

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In July, Americans United issued a warning letter to Judge James R. DePiazza of Texas regarding his violation of the Fourteenth Amendment in erected roadblocks to marriage equality. We're pleased to announce that Judge DePiazza has removed the requirement that all couples married by him sign a written acknowledgement that  he "'prefers to not conduct same-sex marriages' and must agree to refrain from mentioning the topic of marriage for same-sex couples 'before, during or after the ceremony.'" The new Denton County Wedding Letter and Receipt form no longer carries the discriminating language. 

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Paying The Piper: Texas Attorney General Faces Contempt Charge For Marriage Equality Non-Cooperation

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From AU's Wall of Separation blog:

Some Religious Right operatives have said they would rather go to jail than accept marriage equality in the states. Although Texas’ attorney general has not yet made so bold a statement, he may nonetheless spend some time behind bars for his refusal to cooperate with the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage decision.

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Kentucky Clerk Strikes Again, This Time With A Lawsuit Against the Governor

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Oh, Kentucky– land of horses, bourbon, bluegrass, and, very recently, county clerks who refuse to play by the rules.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is back in the news again, this time for launching a lawsuit against Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear for violating her religious freedom.

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No Persecution Here: IRS Commissioner Says Tax Agency Has No Plans To Punish Christian Colleges That Reject Marriage Equality

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From the Wall of Separation blog:

The far right makes no secret of its hatred for the Internal Revenue Service, but recent comments by IRS Commissioner John Koskinen should earn the agency a few brownie points with fundamentalists who fear that Christian colleges will be forced to extend benefits to married same-sex couples or risk their tax exemptions.

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Houston Non-Discrimination Law Sends Some Minds to The Gutter

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With the Texas Supreme Court's ruling that Houston's non-discrimination ordinance must be put up to a public vote, the Religious Right is so pleased that a law that protects LGBT Americans is in danger that they have resurrected the "pervert" trope especially for the occasion.

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August Declared "Traditional Marriage Month" in Longview, Texas

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August is many things: National Immunization Awareness Month, summer's last hoorah, and the bane of vacation-loving, school-adverse children everywhere. But for Longview, Texas, August is about "traditional marriage." 

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Colorado Activists Attack Equality Verdict

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Earlier this month, two citizens filed two ballot measures in Colorado to undermine marriage equality.  The first ballot measure would defy the Supreme Court's recent marriage equality decision Obergefell v. Hodges, by denying same-sex couples the right to marry and instead allowing them only the right to obtain civil unions.  The second would allow wedding related businesses to refuse to serve same sex-couples and instead hire a contractor to serve these couples.

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Clergy Know Their Rights. In This Letter, They Prove It

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The First Amendment Defense Act was introduced last month by Sen. Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Labrador (R-ID) in response to the Supreme Court decision guaranteeing marriage equality. The bill would create a sweeping religious exemption that would allow government employees, contractors, and grantees to discriminate against same-sex couples, unmarried couples, and single parents. For example, it could allow a homeless shelter or food bank that receives federal grants to refuse to serve a same-sex couple in need.