President Donald Trump is expected to
sign a so-called religious freedom executive order at an event at the
White House on Thursday.
According
to Politico,
Trump has invited conservative leaders to attend what is expected to
be the ceremonial signing of the order.
A leaked draft of the order first
reported by The Nation would protect persons and organizations
that oppose marriage equality and abortion rights and believe that a
person's sex is determined at or before birth.
(Related: LGBT
groups say draft of Trump “religious freedom” order would allow
discrimination.)
A source who has seen the text of the
order told Politico that the language is “very, very
strong.”
Chad Griffin, president of the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate,
called the rumored order “unconstitutional” and “nothing more
than a license-to-discriminate order that puts millions of LGBTQ
people at risk.”
“There is no religious freedom crisis
in America today, but there is a crisis of hate and discrimination.
At a time when two-thirds of all LGBTQ people report having
experienced discrimination, Donald Trump is making the problem worse
by giving legal cover to perpetrators. By even considering this
discriminatory order he has broken his promise to be a president for
all Americans,” Griffin said in a statement.
The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) said that it was prepared to challenge the order in court.
“The ACLU fights every day to defend
religious freedom, but religious freedom does not mean the right to
discriminate against or harm others. If President Trump signs an
executive order that attempts to provide a license to discriminate
against women or LGBT people, we will see him in court,” Louise
Melling, deputy legal director of the ACLU, said in a statement.
Thursday is the National Day of Prayer.