If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has her way, your Constitutional right to free speech and religious freedom could be in jeopardy.

Tomorrow [Friday, May 17th], the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the so-called Equality Act (H.R. 5). This legislation redefines discrimination to say that any “lack of accommodation” toward sexual orientation and/or gender identity would be against the law.

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What does “accommodation” mean? You have to treat all sexual orientations and all gender identities equal to “male” and “female.”

For example, if a church segregates men and women’s restrooms they would be guilty of discriminating against people who are men but call themselves women. Or discriminating against women who call themselves men. Or discriminating people who are “transitioning” to another gender. Or people who claim no gender. Anyone who felt discriminated against by a church because their gender identity was not embraced could legally sue, and the church would likely lose its tax-exempt status and face court sanction. The same goes for any school – religious or otherwise – any business, non-profit, private club, athletic facility, or event facility. If you have a home-based business or an online business, you would also be barred from doing anything that a person claiming one of 50+ gender identities would find offensive and thus “discriminatory.” In other words—your sex at birth, and other people’s sex at birth—would no longer matter. And any place, thing, event or program built around ”being a man” or “being a woman,” would now be considered discriminatory.

The Equality Act also eliminates the religious exemptions that allow religious entities to lawfully discriminate in hiring. Typically, Protestant churches prefer to hire people who share their faith convictions. Mosques prefer to hire adherents of Islam. Synagogues generally hire Jewish individuals. But under this legislation, churches, religious schools, and faith-based universities would be breaking the law to make these type of hiring preferences.

Also, in a direct slap at the Bill of Rights, the Equality Act specifically erases the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which stated that religious freedom allows certain choices to people of faith. H.R. 5 would overrule that law, saying that religious freedom cannot be used as a defense to “discriminate” against a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

“We cannot allow claims of religious freedom to be used to discriminate against an LGBT individual,” said Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) when Speaker Pelosi introduced the Equality Act earlier this year.

(Excerpted from CBN News, article by Laurel MacLeod)

A House vote is scheduled for Friday, May 17th on HR5, a piece of legislation that is a direct and imposing threat to religious freedom and freedom of speech.  Call the Congressional Switchboard and let your Representative know you do NOT support HR5–(202) 224-3121.