Indiana Lawmakers Send Religious Objection Bill To Governor
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Indiana is poised to become the first state this year to enact one of numerous state religious objection bills that critics say could legalize discrimination against gays.
The Indiana Senate gave final legislative approval Tuesday to the Republican-backed bill. GOP Gov. Mike Pence says he will sign it into law.
The measure would prohibit state and local laws that “substantially burden” the ability of people, businesses and associations to follow their religious beliefs.
Some national gay-rights groups say the proposals in Indiana and about a dozen other states try to provide legal cover for discrimination as the nation’s highest court prepares to mull the gay marriage question.
But supporters say it aims to prevent the government from compelling people to provide services for activities they consider objectionable.
—–
Concerns Over Easing Transgender Ban In Military
WASHINGTON (AP) – Defense Secretary Ash Carter has gotten pushback from senior military leaders on whether the Pentagon should lift its ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces, according to U.S. officials familiar with the discussions.
Carter initially told troops in Afghanistan that he was open-minded when asked if the Defense Department was planning to remove one of the last gender- or sexuality-based barriers to military service. But defense officials said members of his top brass told Carter that they had serious reservations.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Military officials are reluctant to publicly discuss their opposition, but much of it centers on questions about where transgender troops would be housed, what berthing they would have on ships, which bathrooms they would use, and whether their presence would affect the ability of small units to work well together.
There also are questions about whether the military would conduct or pay for the medical treatment and costs associated with any gender transition, as well as which physical training standards they would be required to meet.
The military has dealt with many similar questions as it integrated the ranks by race, gender and sexual orientation. And in many cases they raised comparable worries about what effect the change would have on the force, including whether it would hinder small units that often have to work together in remote, confined locations for long periods of time.
Transgender people – those who believe their gender identity is different than the one they were born with and sometimes take hormone treatments or have surgery to become their chosen gender – are banned from military service. But studies and other surveys estimate 15,000 transgender people serve in the active duty military and the reserves, often in secret but in many cases with the knowledge of their unit commander or peers.
Carter, who became Pentagon chief just five weeks ago, told troops in Afghanistan last month that the key question should be “are they going to be excellent service members? And I don’t think anything but their suitability for service should preclude them.”
What he didn’t know at the time was that one of the troops in attendance was a transgender individual who is serving with the full knowledge of that person’s commander.
People familiar with the event would not identify the transgender service member or say if that person met or had a photograph taken with the secretary, saying it could put the person’s job in jeopardy.
That transgender service member lives in barracks for that person’s chosen gender identity, not the one listed on the troop’s identification card, said Allyson Robinson, policy director for an association of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender military personnel called Service members, Partners, and Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All, or SPARTA. Robinson said the person is “acknowledged as one of the top performers in the unit,” and is known to be a transgender individual by others in the unit.
The transgender issue came to the fore as the military struggled with how to deal with convicted national security leaker Chelsea Manning’s request for hormone therapy and other treatment for her gender dysphoria while she’s in prison. Manning, arrested as Bradley Manning, is the first transgender military prisoner to request such treatment, and the Army recently approved the hormone therapy, under pressure from a lawsuit.
—–
Alabama Bill Would Let Adoption Agencies Refuse Gay Couples
MONTGOMERY (AP) – Alabama would allow adoption agencies – including those with state contracts – to refuse to place children with same-sex couples on religious grounds, under a bill introduced in the Alabama Legislature.
Republican Sen. Gerald Allen of Tuscaloosa introduced the bill last week specifying that groups could refuse to participate in adoptions and foster care placements that violate their religious beliefs. The bill would also prohibit the state from refusing to license, or contract with, the groups that refuse services to people on religious grounds.
Allen said he brought the bill to protect the faith-based groups, including children’s homes affiliated with the Baptist and Catholic churches, in anticipation that the U.S. Supreme Court could legalize same-sex marriage nationwide later this year.
“It’s not that they are discriminating against same-sex couples, they are observing their own rights and beliefs,” said Eric Johnston, an attorney who worked on the bill.
Opponents said the bill would provide legal cover for discrimination against a diverse array of families seeking to adopt.
“Decisions about prospective parents should be based on the best interest of the child, not on discriminatory factors unrelated to good parenting,” said Human Rights Campaign Alabama state director R. Ashley Jackson.
The bill does not specify same-sex marriage but only says that the groups can refuse services that violate their religious beliefs. Jackson said that would allow the groups to refuse people of certain faiths, or at least give preference to people of a certain faith.
Johnston said gay couples could still adopt in Alabama through secular or other adoption agencies.
Alabama is the latest state to take up “religious freedom” bills regarding gay marriage.
The Alabama House of Representatives has approved a bill that would grant civil immunity for judges and ministers who refuse to marry gay couples. Johnston said legislation will probably be introduced this session to provide civil protections to florists, bakers and others who refuse to provide services at same-sex weddings.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on April 28 regarding whether gay and lesbian couples have a fundamental right to marry and whether states can ban such unions.
The Alabama Department of Human Resources did not have an immediate comment on the legislation.
Gay and lesbian couples began marrying in some Alabama counties on Feb. 9 after a federal judge ruled Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The Alabama Supreme Court in March ordered probate judges to stop issuing the licenses to same-sex couples.
—–
Arkansas Senate Panel Backs ‘Conscience Protection’ Measure
LITTLE ROCK (AP) – An effort to prevent Arkansas government from infringing on someone’s religious beliefs was revived Tuesday, with a state Senate panel advancing a bill that critics have called a thinly veiled endorsement of discrimination against gays and lesbians.
The legislation approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee would ban state and local government from taking action that would burden someone’s religious beliefs unless a “compelling governmental interest” is proven. The bill, if enacted, would strengthen any case of a person suing the government if that person could prove their religious beliefs were infringed upon. The Senate could take up the bill as soon as Wednesday.
The lawmaker behind the proposal said he didn’t view the measure as anti-gay, and said it was aimed at giving Arkansans more protections for their religious beliefs and practices.
“It’s pro-religion, the ability for someone to carry out their beliefs without the state bugging them about it,” Republican Rep. Bob Ballinger of Hindsville told the panel. “That’s what this is.”
The legislation is patterned after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 19 states have similar laws and several states are currently considering them.
The same measure stalled before the panel last month on a 3-3 vote after retail giant Wal-Mart said the proposal sent the wrong message about its home state and Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he had reservations about the bill. The panel advanced the measure Tuesday on a 5-3 vote, with Democratic Sen. David Burnett joining the committee’s four Republicans in support.
“This is a shameful outcome for a shameful bill,” Kendra Johnson, the state director of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “The fight now turns to the full Senate, where all fair-minded Arkansans must stand together to halt this destructive legislation that undermines the core values of this state.”
Democratic Sen. Linda Chesterfield of Little Rock, who voted against the measure, called it “terrible.”
“There is something very, very wrong when you allow religion to be the excuse for discrimination,” Chesterfield said after the vote. “That is exactly what we’ve allowed here to happen.”
The bill is another setback for gay rights groups, a month after Hutchinson allowed separate legislation to become law that bans local governments from expanding anti-discrimination protections to include sexual orientation or gender identity.
—–
Senate OKs Artificial Insemination Bill For Same-Sex Couples
ANNAPOLIS (AP) – Female same-sex couples in Maryland would have the same health care benefits for artificial insemination as heterosexual couples, under a bill passed by the state Senate.
Senators passed the bill 37-10 on Tuesday.
The measure would prevent health insurers from excluding benefits for outpatient expenses related to in vitro fertilization, in which the egg is fertilized outside a woman’s body and the embryo is implanted in the uterus. Under current law, insurers only have to provide the benefit for someone using a husband’s sperm. That has precluded female same-sex couples from coverage.
Sen. Cheryl Kagan, a Montgomery County Democrat, says the bill is aimed at updating the state’s laws. Maryland voters approved same-sex marriage in 2012.
A similar bill has passed the House on a 94-44 vote.
