A Florida Republican has re-filed a
controversial “religious freedom “bill which opponents say could
be used to discriminate against the LGBT community.
State Rep. Julio Gonzalez's bill (HB
401), filed on Wednesday, seeks to amend the state's Religious
Freedom Restoration Act of 1998 to state that an entity owned by a
religious institution is “not required to produce, create or
deliver a product or service that would be contrary to [its]
religious or moral convictions or policies.”
A similar bill that provided legal
protections for adoption agencies created controversy during last
year's legislative session. While Gonzalez's bill is more broadly
written, it also specifically enumerates adoption agencies.
Nadine Smith, executive director of
Equality Florida, the state's largest LGBT rights advocate, blasted
the bill as “extreme” in a written statement.
“In addition to churches, it would
allow individuals, for-profit businesses, health care providers,
non-profit adoption agencies and others to discriminate against
anyone they want, for personal reasons,” Smith said. “Not only
would passing this bill tell the rest of the country that Florida is
a mean-spirited, discriminatory state. It would also allow a
healthcare provider to deny reproductive and contraceptive services
to women; retailers to refuse service to LGBT people; a day care to
refuse admittance of a child with LGBT parents, and many other
outcomes we believe most people would find deeply unfair.”
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