The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has finalized a new rule that will allow health care workers to refuse to provide or assist in providing medical services if doing so violates their religious or moral beliefs. In other words, it will allow them to discriminate widely—putting LGBTQ people and our families, among others, at risk.
I’ve been celebrating the spring holidays with my interfaith family and reflecting that Passover and Easter this year come in the shadow of ongoing and spiteful religious exemption laws in a growing number of states and in the federal government. These laws, widely seen as targeting the LGBTQ community, would allow people to cite their religious beliefs as a reason to discriminate against others. I have to remind myself, however, that we shouldn’t set religion and LGBTQ equality as necessarily opposing forces.
President Trump’s proposed 2020 budget, released March 11, reinforces his intention to let foster care and adoption agencies discriminate against LGBTQ people and others in the name of religion, using taxpayer money. There is legislation pending that could stop these religious exemptions to nondiscrimination laws, however. Here’s what you need to know.
It’s legal to discriminate against LGBTQ parents, Jewish parents, and others in adoption and foster care, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Just claim that serving them goes against your religious beliefs. A coalition of LGBTQ, civil rights, child welfare, and faith organizations is fighting this, however—but they need your stories to help change hearts and minds at an upcoming Congressional hearing.
