Thank You, Barry W. Lynn, For 25 Years Of Service To Americans United!
Anti-LGBTQ Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Resurfaces
Join Us Today To Say #HandsOffMyBC
Today marks a day of action against President Donald J. Trump’s attacks on contraceptive access. Last month, Trump announced regulations that would allow any employer or university, and even for-profit corporations, to use religion to deny contraception insurance coverage to their employees and students.
We’ve Spent The Past Year Fending Off Donald Trump’s Attacks On Religious Freedom
A year ago, when Donald Trump and Mike Pence were elected to the highest offices in the land, Americans United warned of the many threats this administration posed to church-state separation. We promised that if any of those threats came to fruition, we would be ready to fight back and defend religious freedom.
Americans United Sues Trump Administration Over Rules That Threaten Women’s Access To Birth Control
Americans United is following through on a promise we made when the Trump administration announced an attack on women’s healthcare last month: We’ve filed a federal lawsuit challenging the administration’s new regulations that allow employers and universities to use religion as an excuse to deny their staff and students health insurance coverage for birth control.
AU And NWLC File Lawsuit Against Trump Administration Over Rules Denying Women Birth Control Coverage
Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the National Women’s Law Center today filed a lawsuit against Trump administration rules that allow employers and universities to cite religious or moral objections in order to deny employees and students health insurance coverage of birth control.
AU Urges Supreme Court To Stop Businesses From Using Religion As Excuse To Discriminate
On Dec. 5, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could have a huge impact on how our nation’s nondiscrimination laws protect the LGBTQ community, religious minorities, women, and just about anyone.
Americans United Urges Supreme Court To Stop Colorado Bakery From Using Religion To Discriminate Against Same-Sex Couples
The Trump Administration Is Seeking Advice On How To Use Religion To Discriminate
Recent Study Highlights Importance Of Protecting Birth Control Access
A recent study published in the American Journal of Public Health revealed that the abortion rate in the United States decreased by 25 percent from 2008 to 2014, in large part due to improved access to contraception.
North Dakota Couple Sues Catholic Charities After Being Denied Adoption
The Associated Press reports that a North Dakota couple filed a lawsuit against Catholic Charities for refusing to let them adopt a 15-year-old girl who had been in foster care for eight years because they were living together before they were married.
Religious Right Groups Are Very Interested In The Colorado Bakery Case Pending Before The Supreme Court
The US Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for December 5 in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission—an important case that will have significant implications for religious freedom.
New Trump Administration Policies Are A Blueprint For Using Religion To Discriminate
From AU's Wall of Separation blog:
Last Friday, the Trump Administration announced major policy changes that significantly weaken the principle of church-state separation and serve as a blueprint for using religion to discriminate, especially against women and LGBTQ people.
The two new rules that offer organizations and corporations the right to deny women insurance coverage for contraception made the news. Less coverage was given to the Department of Justice’s 25-page guidance titled, “Federal Law Protections for Religious Liberty.” This guidance contains extreme interpretations of the law in an effort to give a greenlight to religious exemptions, regardless of how an exemption would affect other people or the public interest.
Religious freedom is a fundamental value, but it does not allow religion to be used as an excuse to harm other people.
Here are just a few of the most troubling ways the guidance could be used:
- People and corporations may cite religion as an excuse to ignore nondiscrimination laws that protect women and LGBTQ people.
- Taxpayer-funded organizations can claim a right to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion. They can also use a religious litmus test to decide whom they will serve within the government-funded social service program and which services they will provide, even if it conflicts with the terms of the government grant or contract.
- The government will give religious exemptions to businesses and government employees, even if the result is taking away a right or benefit the law guarantees to someone else.
In other words, the guidance allows taxpayer-funded organizations, corporations, and individuals to use religion as a trump card to almost any law.
This guidance misses the mark: Our laws should be a shield to protect religious freedom and not a sword to harm others. Our country is strongest when we are all free to believe or not, as we see fit, and to practice our faith without hurting others.
Mississippi’s Anti-LGBTQ Law About To Go Into Effect
Mississippi’s discriminatory House Bill 1523 is expected to go into effect today, despite ongoing legal efforts to strike it down.
Trump Administration Guidance On Religious Freedom Is A Blueprint For Religion-Based Discrimination, Says Americans United
With New Birth Control Rule, Trump Administration Ramps Up Attack On Women’s Healthcare
Americans United Will Sue Trump Administration Over New Birth Control Regulations
Court Hears Arguments About Transgender Employee Fired By Funeral Home
Celebrate LGBTQ History Month By Opposing Discrimination In The Name Of Religion
October marks LGBTQ History Month—a month dedicated to celebrating icons of the LGBTQ community. This LGBTQ History Month and every month, Americans United is proud to stand with our LGBTQ neighbors and oppose discrimination in the name of religion.