Bill Granting a Broad ‘License to Discriminate’ Against LGBTQ+ People
H3611 grants a broad “license to discriminate” to state agencies and contractors, including child welfare agencies, who hold anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs, including those against same-sex couples and transgender people.
The bill is an extremely broad attempt to allow many kinds of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. It explicitly condones discrimination in housing, places of public accommodation, and employment and could make it easier for LGBTQ+ people to be denied housing, fired, or refused service because of who they are.
The bill also bars the government from regulating medical licenses of people who oppose LGBTQ+ equality. This bill could be used as a legal shield for providers of so-called “conversion therapy.”
The freedom of religion is important – and already protected – but this freedom of religion does not grant anyone the ability to discriminate or cause harm to people just because they are a part of the LGBTQ+ community.