Brian Brown and Tony Perkins are among
the social conservatives speaking out against the Equality Act, the
proposed federal bill which seeks to prohibit anti-LGBT
discrimination in seven key areas, including credit, education,
employment, federal funding, housing, jury service and public
accommodations, by effectively expanding the Civil Rights Act,
originally approved in 1964.
Leading Democratic presidential
candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders and
major corporations, including Microsoft, Google and Facebook, have
endorsed the Equality Act, which is expected to receive strong
opposition in the Republican-led House.
Brian Brown, president of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM), the leading group opposed to
marriage equality in the United States and abroad, said that the bill
should be called “the Persecution of Americans Act” because it
will extend the supposed persecution of wedding-related vendors who
refuse to serve gay and lesbian couples to “impact Americans in
virtually every area of life.”
“The legislation puts in the
crosshairs anyone who believes God created people male and female,”
Brown wrote. “It would declare that a traditional view of human
sexuality is hateful and bigoted and treat Christians, Jews and other
people of faith just as the law treats racists. HR 3185 specifically
denies someone who has been targeted the ability to rely on the
provisions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a defense
against the complaint of discrimination.”
“What lies 'beyond marriage equality'
is persecution,” he added. “And that's what HR 3185 should be
called – The Persecution of Americans Act.”
Perkins, the president of the Family
Research Council (FRC), a vocal opponent of LGBT rights, also
suggested renaming the bill.
“The entire purpose of the 'Equality
Act' (better titled the 'Un-equality Act') is to provide special
privileges to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender by incorporating sex, sexual orientation, and gender
identity into laws regarding employment, like ENDA would,” Perkins
said in an email to supporters.
“[T]he Equality Act strips
conscientious objectors of their freedom and would, by law, require
their compliance with the LGBT agenda,” he
added.