LINCOLN, Nebraska (LifeSiteNews) — Political leaders and pro-family activists in Nebraska are warning about a recently passed ordinance in the city of Lincoln that they say would target Christian organizations and clergy.
The ordinance, passed at the February 14 Lincoln City Council meeting, would expand discrimination laws in the city to include a new category of “gender identity” defined as “an individual’s actual or perceived gender related identity, expression, behavior, or other characteristics of an individual with or without regard to their assigned sex at birth.”
It would also forbid counseling individuals about their sex or attractions to someone of the same sex. But the prohibition on counseling would only apply to organizations, such as religious ones, that help individuals struggling with homosexual inclinations or gender dysphoria — it would not prohibit counseling someone who want to “[assist] a person undergoing gender transition” or facilitate “a person’s coping, social support, identity exploration, and development, including sexual orientation and gender identity-neutral interventions to prevent or address unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices.”
The city’s Human Rights Commission could assess fines up to $10,000 for the first offense, according to the Nebraska Family Alliance (NFA), which is circulating a petition to get the city council to either repeal the ordinance or put it on the ballot for a vote by Lincoln residents.
It is similar to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which homosexual activists weaponized against Christian baker Jack Phillips for refusing to make a cake celebrating their “marriage.”
“The adjudicating tribunal is the mayor-appointed human rights commission who can assess damages and attorney’s fees against the offending person,” Nate Grasz told The Daily Wire. “In addition, they can impose fines ranging from: $10,000 for first offenses; $25,000 for each repeated offense within 5 years; and $50,000 for each repeated offense within a 7 year period.”
“Those are the definition of ‘draconian’ and would quickly bankrupt any person or business,” Grasz, NFA’s policy director, told the conservative publication.
“NFA filed a petition on Tuesday to stop the ordinance, which has yet to be signed by the mayor, from taking effect,” The Daily Wire reported. “The NFA has until 15 days after submitting the petition to collect 4,137 signatures to stop the bill.”
Gov. Pete Ricketts supports the NFA’s efforts. “This ordinance is anything but fair — it should be called the ‘unfairness ordinance,’” the governor said. Supporters of the legislation have called it the “Fairness Ordinance.”
“It prevents parents from helping their kids who are experiencing gender dysphoria. And it threatens to bankrupt families who instill traditional values on their children — anyone who disagrees could get fined up to $50,000,” Ricketts said. “I urge the people of Lincoln to sign the petition to let the people vote on these unfair policies!”
There are narrow exemptions for religious organizations, but the term “public accommodations” is broad that it could apply “pretty much everywhere and anything,” Grasz said.
PETITION UPDATE (2/24/22)
VICTORY - Trudeau revokes Emergencies Act
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday that his government will revoke the Emergencies Act (EA) despite it being approved by the House of Commons on Monday.
Trudeau had said at the beginning of the week that the EA was still needed because his government was worried about further freedom-oriented activity from Canadian truckers and patriots.
The drastic change in governance comes as the Canadian Senate has spent the last two days debating whether to approve the EA when a national emergency is not present.
Conservative Senator Leo Housakos has led the charge in the Senate, and he gave an impassioned speech today against using the EA under the circumstances.
“This country is deeply divided like I’ve never seen,” Housakos said. “It’s moments like this when the executive branch of government and every prime minister has an obligation to put the nations interests above the interests of himself, his party, and partisan politics.”
Thank you for signing this petition which urged world leaders to condemn Trudeau's use of the extraordinary powers in the Emergencies Act to suppress the Charter Rights of peaceful Canadians.
Please read the latest article from LifeSiteNews about Trudeau's about face: 'BREAKING: Trudeau gov’t dropping Emergencies Act early after pressure from Senate'
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The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, is using police-state tactics to attempt to suppress the civil rights of the Truckers' Freedom Convoy protesters, those brave men and women who have called for an end to the mandates and a return to freedom.
This past Tuesday, Trudeau took the outrageous step of invoking the Emergencies Act (EA) in his ongoing battle against the truckers (and freedom, in general), and has officially moved to FREEZE the bank accounts of participating protesters.
And, in the latest dramatic development, police - some in riot gear, others on horseback - have started to move in, to attempt to disperse what has been a peaceful, democratic protest.
This kind of authoritarian police-state action cannot go uncondemned.
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition which asks world leaders to CONDEMN these strong-arm tactics and urge Trudeau and his government to use restraint and allow the peaceful protests to continue.*
The EA, which replaced the War Measures Act in 1988, permits the federal government to take "special temporary measures to ensure safety and security during national emergencies," which the law defines as "an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature" that either "seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it" or "seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada."
But, of course, the truckers' nationwide protests have not in any sense risen to such a level that anyone's life or safety have been endangered!
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition which asks world leaders to CONDEMN these strong-arm tactics and urge Trudeau and his government to use restraint and allow the peaceful protests to continue.
Trudeau's politically-motivated use of the EA, therefore, seems nothing more than an effort to violate the rights of protesters, and, for all intents and purposes, impose "martial law" as a means to quash the civil liberties of people he sees as political opposition, but who are, in reality, just normal, freedom-loving Canadians who want their freedoms back.
Indeed, Trudeau is now using tyrannical, authoritarian-style tactics to silence dissenters, and mercilessly attack the Charter rights of Canadians who are using their freedom of expression to protest his unjust war against citizens' medical autonomy.
Thank you for SIGNING and SHARING this petition which asks world leaders to CONDEMN these strong-arm tactics and urge Trudeau and his government to use restraint and allow the peaceful protests to continue.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Trudeau uses Emergencies Act to freeze private bank accounts in latest attack on Freedom Convoy': https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/trudeau-uses-emergencies-act-to-freeze-private-bank-accounts-in-latest-attack-on-freedom-convoy/
'Separating fact from fiction: Here’s what Trudeau can and cannot do under the Emergencies Act': https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/separating-fact-from-fiction-heres-what-trudeau-can-and-cannot-do-under-the-emergencies-act/
'Everything you need to know about Trudeau’s decision to invoke the ‘Emergencies Act’': https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/everything-you-need-to-know-about-trudeaus-decision-to-invoke-the-emergencies-act/
*This petition will be sent to UN delegates and mission heads from the world's most populous countries.
**Photo Credit: Darryl Barton/Shutterstock
He also warned about a section of the ordinance that expands the reach of sexual harassment laws to places of “public accommodation” which could include restaurants, theatres or bars. He said it could be applied to someone who does not use someone’s preferred pronouns, for example.
“If I don’t use a person’s preferred pronouns or if I dare to talk publicly about human sexuality in a way that might have the ‘effect’ of intimidating or offending them — or interfering with their work performance — I might be liable for a discriminatory act,” Grasz said.