During a recent podcast, former U.S.
Representative and failed presidential candidate Michele Bachmann
claimed that a Joe Biden administration would strip Christian
conservatives of their rights.
Bachmann, a Republican, pointed to
Biden's promise to pass the Equality Act.
The bill cleared the House earlier this
year then stalled in the Senate. It seeks to expand federal civil
rights laws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity. President Donald Trump has signaled
his opposition to the legislation.
(Related: Following
SCOTUS ruling on LGBT rights, Joe Biden vows to sign Equality Act.)
Bachmann, a vocal opponent of LGBT
rights, warned that passage of the Equality Act would lead to
discrimination against Christians.
“Joe Biden has said the very first
thing he would do as president of the United States is to put in
place the Equality Act,” Bachmann
said. “It’s really the Inequality Act, because the Equality
Act would add the words ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender
identity’ to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and ’65. And that would
completely upend the Civil Rights Act, which was meant to give
equality to Blacks in all areas of life in the United States, which
was a good thing. This actually, in my perspective, harms all people
because it really is about punishing. It gives special rights to
certain people who practice certain behaviors. It’s about giving
rights to feelings, not to immutable physical characteristics.”
“Even worse,” she added, “we’re
all going to lose rights. Those who believe in a biblical standard,
we will be punished. We will no longer be able to verbally or
practice life in the way that we used to practice life because we’ll
be punished for what the Bible says. If we speak what the Bible says,
we’ll be punished.”
(Related: Michele
Bachmann: God may destroy America over gay marriage, abortion.)