By Robert G. Marshall ( bio – articles – email ) | Mar 09, 2021
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has imposed a Gag Rule on Catholics and other Christians who are the targets of her pro-LGBTQ so-called “Equality Act,” HR 5.
No Catholic or Evangelical representatives who opposed HR 5 testified before the April, 2019 Judiciary Committee hearing, yet passage of this radical measure will require Christians and their institutions to accept behavior rejected by Scripture and millennia of religious teaching if they want to avoid huge penalties and punitive fines.
The beneficiaries of this extreme measure are the LGBTQ+ Human Rights Campaign and the child-killing business of Planned Parenthood and their supporters.
The only public hearing on HR 5 was held in 2019. Only eight witnesses testified before the House Judiciary Committee: six in favor, two opposed. The two House witnesses who opposed HR 5 expressed concerns about its impact on women’s sports, privacy, employment and the erasure of women in society.
Not one committee witness pointed out how the “Equality Act” would adversely impact Catholic and religious hospitals, clinics, social welfare institutions, private religious schools, senior living apartments, and nursing homes if they refused to impose gender identity and sexual orientation policies.
Catholic hospitals would be penalized if they do not abort unborn children or perform gender reassignment surgery on minors or others. Nor would they be eligible for Medicaid/Medicare or insurance reimbursements.
Failure to comply with LGBTQ+ policies or abortion requirements, will result in punitive damages up to $500,000 per violation which, of course would cripple if not destroy the charitable works of these Christian institutions.
The so-called “Equality Act” will also prohibit federally chartered banks from loaning money to churches that do not perform “same sex marriages” because HR5 deceitfully defines churches as “public accommodations.”
A church that does not allow its building to be used for a “same-sex” wedding would be fined up to $500,000 and treated as if it were a cross-burning, white sheet, KKK group!
Women’s religious orders which refuse to accept “trans” women as postulants would lose tax exempt status. Catholic charities which do not place children for adoption or foster care with same-sex couples would lose their state license to operate.
Christian schools which do not permit a same sex “married” individual to teach would lose tax-exempt status and lose certification to satisfy state compulsory attendance laws.
In 2015, Hillary Clinton told an elite Manhattan audience that “deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed regarding reproductive health care.” By reproductive health care, Clinton undoubtedly meant abortion and birth control.
Also in 2015, NY Times columnist Frank Bruni cited a homosexual activist who stated, “Church leaders must be made ‘to take homosexuality off the sin list.’”
The Equality Act would basically make Christian influence in society illegal.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act that would normally protect Christians and Christian institutions from complying with these immoral and draconian mandates was eliminated from HR 5. So the only “remedy” for Christians is persecution or apostasy.
“Catholic” Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims that transgender and sexual orientation demands will be required “in every place.”
The Equality Act would mandate that those who follow the moral teachings of Moses or Jesus must be excluded from the Public Square, excoriated or penalized for expressing and defending First Amendment protected religious beliefs and practices.
Speaker Pelosi’s denial of fundamental due process and First Amendment Rights by not inviting Christian leaders to testify at the Congressional hearing conflicts with the ancient principle citied in John 7:51, “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”
Basic procedural fairness requires, at a minimum, that no vote should take place until those with opposing views have had an opportunity to be thoroughly and fairly heard in the same public venue as those who support the Equality Act.
Normally, HR 5 would be sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee to be heard, but pro-abortion, pro LGBTQ Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has placed HR 5 on the Senate Calendar, thus it can be sent to the Senate floor for a vote without a Committee hearing, a very unusual and uniquely unfair tactic in this instance.
It appears activists are rushing to pass the Equality Act before too many Americans find out what is actually authorized by HR 5.
ACTION ITEMS
Please contact both of your U.S. Senators. Demand that Faith leaders be heard in committee to defend against one-sided claims made by LGBTQ+ and abortion advocates. Urge your Senators to vote against HR 5.
Ask your Senators how they can justify voting on a bill without hearing from opponents. Share your thoughts on HR 5 with local newspapers and social media, and spread the positions of Senators if known.
If your Congressman voted for HR 5 (see link below), ask why, especially since religious opponents were not given the chance to defend their churches from LGBTQ+ and abortion partisans.
If your Congressman voted against HR 5, please thank him or her.
CatholicCulture.org is not a political action organization but, in furtherance of its Catholic mission, authorizes free distribution of this analysis of political initiatives which violate a Catholic understanding of the human person. For those unfamiliar with how to contact their Senators and Representatives, we also provide the following public links:
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Bob Marshall served 26 years in the Virginia House of Delegates and was the chief House sponsor of the 2006 voter-approved Virginia Marriage Amendment and a ban on late term abortion. He recently wrote Reclaiming the Republic: How Christians and Other Conservatives Can Win Back America (TAN Books). Previously, he co-authored Blessed are the Barren, a social history of Planned Parenthood (Ignatius Press). Finally, don’t miss Bob’s Civics Lesson for Catholics in the Catholic Culture Podcast Episode 17. See the full bio.
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