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Last updated on: 4/3/2020 8:58:07 AM PST

Should the Government Allow Businesses to Deny Services to LGBTQ+ Customers Using Religious Freedom Laws?

Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993 to guard against government infringement on the free exercise of religion. Some states enacted their own religious freedom laws from 1993 into the mid-2010s to bar government at the state level from creating a burden on individuals' or religious groups' First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion.

Debate over religious freedom laws heated up with cases in which businesses sought to deny services to LGBTQ+ customers, such as refusing to bake a wedding cake for same-sex couples. Proponents of the laws say they offer legal protections for peoples' religious beliefs. Opponents say the laws equate to government-sactioned discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.
Source: FindLaw, "Religious Freedom Acts by State," civilrights.findlaw.com (accessed Mar. 25, 2020)
Pro
Jo Jorgensen
Jorgensen
Donald Trump
Trump

Con
Joe Biden
Biden
Howie Hawkins
Hawkins
Not Clear or Not Found





Pro (Yes)

Pro
Jo Jorgensen
Jorgensen
Libertarian

"The First Amendment right to freedom of association should protect businesses who deny service to any individual, just as LGBTQ+ business owners should be allowed to deny service to bigots."

Source: Communication from the Jorgensen campaign to ProCon.org on Aug. 26, 2020
Pro
Donald Trump
Trump
Republican

"No American — whether a nun, nurse, baker, or business owner — should be forced to choose between the tenets of faith or adherence to the law.”

Source: Donald Trump, "President Donald J. Trump Proclaims January 16, 2018, as Religious Freedom Day,” whitehouse.gov, Jan. 16, 2018

[Editor's Note: The Trump administration's Department of Justice filed a brief in the supporting Jack Phillips in the Supreme Court case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Phillips is the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex wedding, citing a violation of his religious beliefs.

Source: Robert Barnes, "Trump Administration Sides with Colorado Baker Who Refused to Make Wedding Cake for Gay Couple," denverpost.com, Sep. 7, 2017]
Con (No)

Con
Joe Biden
Biden
Democrat

"Biden will... [e]nd the misuse of broad exemptions to discriminate. Religious freedom is a fundamental American value. But states have inappropriately used broad exemptions to allow businesses, medical providers, social service agencies, state and local government officials, and others to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. The Trump-Pence Administration has deliberately and systematically attempted to gut protections for the LGBTQ+ community by carving out broad religious exemptions to existing nondiscrimination laws and policies across federal agencies. Biden will reverse Trump’s policies misusing these broad exemptions and fight so that no one is turned away from a business or refused service by a government official just because of who they are or who they love."

Source: Joe Biden, "The Biden Plan to Advance LGBTQ+ Equality in America and around the World," joebiden.com (accessed Mar. 24, 2020)
Con
Howie Hawkins
Hawkins
Green

"The Religious Freedom Restoration Act has been used to justify discrimination outside of religious institutions, particularly against women and LGBTQIA people. The US rejected the claims of religious institutions that “religious freedom” gave them the right to practice racial discrimination. We need to extend these civil rights to protect women and LGBTQIA people against discrimination by religious institutions.

Church and state should be separated. Freedom of religious belief and practice in religious institutions should be protected. However, if a religious institution, including hospitals and clinics controlled by a religious institution, receives public money, it is now a public accommodations and the government has the right to and should enforce civil rights laws, including reproductive freedom and abortion rights and laws against discrimination. The same rule should apply to private businesses engaged in commerce with the public—the government has the right and duty to prosecute violations of civil rights, reproductive freedom, and anti-discrimination laws by private businesses.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act should be amended by the Do No Harm Act (H.R. 1450; S. 593), which would ensure that federal law protects religious liberty but does not let religion be misused to harm others, including the RFRA to discriminate, to ignore wage and labor protections, to avoid compliance with laws protecting against child abuse, or to thwart access to health care guaranteed by law."

Source: Howie Hawkins, "GPUS Lavender Caucus: National Lavender Green Caucus – Questionnaire for Presidential Candidates," howiehawkins.us (accessed June 24, 2020)



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