0310blog
Respect, Dignity, Human Rights
Only the worst racists would oppose a federal law against lynching, right?
And only those people still living in the dark ages would be against protecting all Americans from sexual discrimination, whether they are heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. Think again.
It took more than a century and cost the lives of thousands of African Americans until last year when the federally government finally outlawed lynchings and enacted severe penalties, overcoming years of opposition that came largely from the southern states where lynchings were most common.
The battle for LBGTQ rights has been going on for more than 45 years and opponents are lining up to KO the latest version known as the Equality Act. A total of 29 states have not outlawed anti-LGBT discrimination and say that the states should be responsible and that state legislators should decide on extending civil rights. Opponents of laws extending protections to LGBTQ people are every bit as vehement and committed as those who fought anti-lynching legislation and they often cloak their stubbornness in religious terms.
The act would uniformly apply anti-LGBT discrimination law in the United States, barring discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, federally funded programs, credit, and jury service. Organizations that violate the law would be barred from receiving any federal funding.
Opponents to the anti-lynching law, known as the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, also claimed it wrongly impinged on state’s rights and that the states should have the authority to prosecute those who lynch, kind of like saying that Hitler should protect Jews from anti-Semitism. Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, sparking national and international outrage.
The Equality Act has passed the House twice and both times the Republicans in the Senate rejected it. The original Equality Act was developed in 1974 by Rep. Bella Abzug, D-N.Y., and then Congressman Ed Koch, D-N.Y. It was held in the House Committee on the Judiciary where it died and never got to a full Congressional vote. The latest iteration was passed the by the House on Feb. 25 by a vote of 224 to 206, with support from three Republicans. It is now pending before the Senate.
It has mainstream support by more than 547 national, state and local organizations, from the American Civil Liberties Union to the National Organization for Women and from professional organizations including the American Psychological Association, American Medical Association and the National PTA. Businesses behind the bill range from Apple and Google to IBM and Amazon.
Faith groups have publicly supported the act and include the Episcopal Church, The United Methodist Church, The United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Muslims for Progressive Values, the Hindu American Foundation and the Unitarian Universalist Association.
It comes as no surprise that a relatively narrow but powerful group of extremists have opposed the legislation. Donald Trump called it “filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights”; Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a QAnon supporter, posted an anti-transgender sign outside of her office directly across the hall from a lawmaker who has a transgender child; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the act is part of an ongoing “onslaught against freedom” from the Biden administration; Rep. Andy Biggs, who is the chair of the most conservative caucus in the House, called it a “devastating attack on humanity”; and Tucker Carlson and finally, Mixed Martial Arts champion Frank Mir, also are vigorously against it. All of the above are hardly the gold standard for respect for human rights.
Need I say more? Aren’t we enlightened enough and educated enough to understand that sexuality is the most private of matters and that people have a right to live peacefully whether they are men who are attracted to men, women who love women, men or women who are attracted to both genders or people who do not identify with the sex of their birth.
Yes, I need to say more because too many among us cling to old religious and cultural bias and still refuse to accept that people shouldn’t be persecuted because they are different. But MAGA remains a strong theme and many people just want the country to return to those innocent years when men were men and women were women and faggots were faggots.
Much of the opposition centers on transgender protections and a fear that the bill would lead to unfair advantages for transgendered athletes in high school sports programs, that women and girls would be put at risk by having transgendered people in the locker rooms and that heterosexual rights would be diminished.
Some religious leaders oppose the bill because they believe it would infringe on religious liberty and require religious groups to violate their own beliefs regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
The fact is that people simply want to be left alone to live their lives, regardless of their sexual orientation. Many religious beliefs are vestiges of the past and should reflect greater education and acceptance in society. Retired Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, explained the need to change the rules with a quote from the biblical account of the Last Supper.
Robinson says that Jesus tells his disciples, “There is much that I would teach you, but you cannot bear it right now. So I will send the Holy Spirit, who will lead you into all truth.”
Robinson says it could be that God is leading conservative denominations into deeper truths.