WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – The Biden administration has pulled religious liberty protections that allowed foster care agencies to ensure children were placed with both a foster mom and a foster dad, not a same-sex couple.
On November 18, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced they have revoked from federally funded foster care agencies religious protections put in place by the Trump administration in 2017. Most notably, they removed the blanket protection that foster care agencies can refuse the placement of children to same-sex couples as it would be a grievous violation of their religious beliefs.
“HHS through ACF [Administration for Children and Families] and OCR [Office for Civil Rights] reestablished its commitment to furthering nondiscrimination and upholding the law by rescinding inappropriate, overly broad waivers issued by the prior Administration,” stated the press release.
“Today, HHS reaffirms its important commitment to core American values: HHS will not condone the blanket use of religious exemptions against any person or blank checks to allow discrimination against any persons, importantly including LGBTQ+ persons in taxpayer-funded programs,” the HHS added.
In 2017, the HHS under then-President Donald Trump, had issued a “Notice of Nonenforcement” to three states – South Carolina, Texas, and Michigan – along with certain child welfare agencies in those states, waiving nondiscrimination requirements based on religious objections.
Freedom-loving Australians are sending out an urgent call for help, a veritable SOS.
Over the past year and a half, Australia's democracy has been replaced by a type of medical fascism which has grasped control of power by using police state tactics.
In that time, freedoms have been curtailed or suppressed altogether and human rights have been abused, often with the use of the police force.
Please WATCH this video from our friends at Reignite Democracy Australia to better understand how BAD it is right now in Australia.
And, the situation just continues to deteriorate, so much so that our friends Down Under are now asking for outside help.
We simply must come to their aid! But, what can we do?
Please consider participating in the following two action items:
1) SAVE THE DATE and ATTEND a Pro-Freedom Rally on DEC. 4th (12pm, local time) at the Australian Embassy in Washington, DC, (address below), or at an Australian consulate office in one of the cities listed below.
2) Please SIGN and SHARE this petition, directed to the Australian Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Arthur Sinodinos, asking him to:
- End the lockdowns in Australia
- End police brutality in Australia
- End mandatory vaccinations in Australia
- Restore the freedoms of speech, assembly and travel in Australia
Remember, after signing, please make a note of this important date and time (and address, below): Saturday, December 4th, 2021, 12pm.
And, please commit to peaceful protest in support of Australian freedom at one of the locations below on that date!
Our friends Down Under are reaching their limits. So, we must now join them in their struggle to retain their freedoms and human rights against police brutality and medical dictatorship.
Thank you for taking part in this important campaign.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'‘SOS from Australia’: Freedom activists plead for political asylum from COVID regime' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/australians-call-on-foreign-leaders-to-accept-covid-tyranny-refugees/
Click here to learn more about the the December 4th protest, including helpful messaging for signs you can make at home to take with you on the day: https://www.reignitedemocracyaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/FINAL-media-release-SOS-from-Australia.pdf
LOCATIONS and PHONE NUMBERS of the Australian Embassy in the United States, as well as their consular offices in Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. [Please use the phone number to politely, but firmly object to the oppression of the people of Australia if you can't go to the protest in person.]:
Embassy - Washington, DC
1145 17th St NW,
Washington DC,
20036-4707
Telephone: +1 202 797 3000
Chicago Consulate
123 North Wacker Drive, Suite 1330
Chicago, Illinois 60606
Telephone: +1 312 419 1480
Honolulu Consulate
Penthouse, 1000 Bishop Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Telephone: +1 808 529 8100
Houston Consulate
3009 Post Oak Blvd, Suite 1310
Houston, Texas 77056
Telephone: +1 832 962 8420
Los Angeles Consulate
2029 Century Park East, 31st Floor
Los Angeles, California 90067
Telephone: +1 310 229 2300
New York Consulate
150 East 42nd Street, 34th Floor
New York, New York 10017-5612
Telephone: +1 212 351 6500
San Francisco Consulate
575 Market Street, Suite 1800
San Francisco, California 94105
Telephone: +1 415 644 3620
While the Biden-led HHS states they will deal with religious objections on a “case-by-case” basis, Roger Severino, who led OCR under Trump and who currently serves as a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told Fox News that the “HHS [has] gratuitously stripped its Office for Civil Rights of the power to accept religious freedom complaints, leaving people with no other option but to sue when HHS inevitably tramples on their rights for lack of any internal checks.”
“These outrages are the latest in a long line of attacks on religious freedom that began the day Biden took office and likely will not end until he and his radical HHS Secretary no longer have the reins of power,” Severino stated.
Despite attacks on religious freedom by the Biden administration, courts have still generally ruled in favor of protecting faith-based organizations’ First Amendment rights.
In June, the Supreme Court voted 9-0 in favor of Catholic Social Services (CSS) after the City of Philadelphia ended their contract because they would not place foster children with same-sex couples.
In the ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that “CSS seeks only an accommodation that will allow it to continue serving the children of Philadelphia in a manner consistent with its religious beliefs; it does not seek to impose those beliefs on anyone else,” adding that the city’s ban on CSS “violates the First Amendment.”