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May 19, 2021 (Family Research Council) ­– As the country faces a crossroad of crises, from a national gas shortage to rising inflation, President Biden has made clear his priority is the liberal social groups that got him elected not the American people.

On Monday, to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, Biden doubled down on his support for the Equality Act. He argued that the Equality Act is necessary because “COVID-19 and rising authoritarianism around the world continue to widen economic, social, and safety gaps for LGBTQI+ people.”

People on both sides of the aisle from the Women's Liberation Front to a group of African-American clergy have made clear that the Equality Act would allow LGBT rights to be used as a sword against people of faith rather than a shield to protect those facing discrimination.

Furthermore, how damaging the Equality Act would be to life, family, and religious freedom cannot be reiterated enough. This bill impacts nearly every facet of American law, and there is no fix or compromise that will prevent this bill from threatening First Amendment freedoms.

While the administration did not offer any evidence that people who identify as LGBT have faced further discrimination under COVID-19 in their public statement, there's more than enough evidence to show that people of faith – both at home and abroad – have been threatened during the virus. At the height of the pandemic last year, there were reports of countries like India using the coronavirus as a means to further persecute Christian minorities. Christians were put on the front lines with the most contagious because they were considered expendable.

Looking back at 2020, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) detailed the impact of the pandemic on religious minorities worldwide. In Sri Lanka, authorities required those that died from COVID-19 be cremated – including Muslims whose religious beliefs prohibit the use of cremation. In Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, officials blamed the spread of COVID-19 on Shi'a religious communities. Around the globe, Jewish communities faced the same accusations. The list could go on and on.

Despite USCIRF's own report listing examples of ways the COVID-19 pandemic has been used to discriminate against people of faith, the Biden administration has not lent any strong support to protecting religious freedom.

More specifically, President Biden has yet to announce a replacement for Sam Brownback, who served as the Ambassador for International Religious Freedom under President Trump. Furthermore, President Biden was the first president since 1952 to offer an address on the National Day of Prayer that did not reference God.

Through his first few months in office, Biden has taken dozens of actions through executive orders, memos, and agency guidance to further a radical sexual ideology and the LGBT agenda. Meanwhile the number of actions taken to protect religious freedom pale in comparison. These actions make Biden's priorities extremely clear: while the economy struggles, wars break out, and people of faith are discriminated against, President Biden and Vice President Harris's priorities are canned speeches in support of the socially liberal groups that put them into office, not protecting faith, family, and freedom at home and abroad.

Reprinted with permission by Family Research Council