Thursday May 13, 2010
New Documentary on Homosexual Threat to Religious Freedom
By James Tillman
WASHINGTON, DC, May 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) — The Family Research Council (FRC) has released a new documentary addressing the threat that a homosexualist non-discrimination law being pushed in America poses to religious liberty and to freedom of speech.
The documentary, entitled “ENDA: The End of Religious Freedom in America,” exposes the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which ostensibly intends to prohibit businesses from discriminating against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation. However, as pro-family leaders warn, the legislation has already been shown to wreak havoc on Christian professionals in other countries where it has passed.
“ENDA is better called the ‘Cross-Dresser Protection Act,'” stated the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins. “If it becomes law, the government will order businesses–including faith-based businesses–to hire homosexuals and cross-dressers, even if these lifestyles conflict with their beliefs and business standards.”
“ENDA is part of the radical agenda to silence Christians, limit religious freedom, and redefine marriage,” said Perkins.
Several pro-family leaders appear in the new DVD to give their perspective on the looming bill, including LifeSiteNews.com assistant editor John Jalsevac provides testimony in the new DVD on the damage done by ENDA-type legislation in Canada. Jalsevac explains how the charitable Christian organization Christian Horizons was fined $23,000 for rejecting homosexual employees, and all of its employees forced to undergo “human rights” training.
Although the legislation contains exemptions for religious organizations, the FRC argues that the exemptions are too narrow and fail to offer sufficient protection to church-related businesses. The religious exemption clause is also unlikely to survive court challenge, according to the FRC.
They also argue that ENDA would mandate homosexuals and transsexuals be put in inappropriate job positions, a point supported recently by the editors of the Washington Times.
“First-graders should not be forced into the classrooms of teachers undergoing sex changes,” the editors wrote. “Religious broadcasters and faith-based summer camps should not be forced to hire cross-dressers. Women should not be forced to share bathrooms with people with male body parts who say they want to be females.
“Yet those are some of the likely results if Congress passes H.R. 3017, the so-called Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).”
ENDA passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006, but afterwards died in the Senate. President Bush had threatened to veto it.
The current version of ENDA, H.R. 3017, was introduced by the openly homosexual Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts in 2009. It currently has 202 co-sponsors in the House.
Homosexualist advocates are currently pushing hard to get ENDA brought to a vote before the midterm elections. Some predict it will reach the House floor this month.
The FRC has opened a website, https://fightenda.org/ from which one may order the DVD and sign a petition opposing ENDA.