Religious Freedom As An LGBT Issue

From The Hill:

On June 1, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a proclamation for Pride Month, acknowledging the human rights violations that LGBT people face worldwide. However, the International Religious Freedom Report for 2017 — an annual survey on the state of religious freedom in 195 countries released on May 28 — offers a mixed bag for LGBT people at a time when religious liberty increasingly is used as a pretext to license discrimination in the United States. In the months ahead, the State Department should more forcefully promote an inclusive vision of religious liberty that all can enjoy.

In the aftermath of U.S. marriage equality, the rhetoric of religious liberty increasingly has functioned as an excuse to refuse service to LGBT people, women, and others in the United States. Lawmakers have invoked religious freedom to justify discrimination in areas as diverse as employment, education, health care, housing and public accommodations. Similar campaigns pitting religious liberty against LGBT rights have begun abroad, including in debates over marriage equality in Australia and Romania.

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