In a move that expands the government attack against private property and voluntary association, attacks the meaning of words, will force business owners to accept males as “trans-gender females” in women’s bathrooms, and that will force businesses to fund abortions and sex-change operations of employees, the House Democrat majority Thursday passed, by a vote of 224-206, HR 5 - the perversely titled “Equality Act.”
And Republican “Representatives” John Katko (NY), Tom Reed (NY), and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA) supported the odiously transgressive bill.
Originally pushed in 2019, the details of the proposal are horrifying and angering. But at the same time, they're important to note - not only because of what they will force onto Americans, but because of the decades-old legalistic legacy on which it is based.
As Alexandra Desanctis writes for National Review, HR5 will:
…undoubtedly lead to an erasure of women’s rights. If passed, the legislation would put women at risk by granting biological men who identify as women access to female-only spaces, including shelters for battered women, locker rooms, dressing rooms, dorm rooms, and restrooms. The bill would also require sports teams to let such men participate in women’s-only sports leagues, putting female competitors at a clear disadvantage.
And, as Melanie Israel writes for TheDailySignal:
The Equality Act could lead to changes in school curricula, such as texts that affirm and promote controversial sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) viewpoints. The Equality Act could also be used to override states that have prohibited SOGI curricula. Where states have conversely mandated SOGI curricula, parents and schools do not have access to ‘opt-out’ options.
And HR5 would see the principle of free association replaced by government diktat, making it impossible for business owners to follow their consciences or religious beliefs and refuse potential clients.
Said Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-MO):
Family-owned businesses, like Jack Phillips’ Masterpiece Cakeshop or Barronelle Stutzman’s Arlene’s Flowers would be required to celebrate same-sex unions and transition procedures.
It's a matter of free association, biology, the meaning of words, and the insidious, long-creeping invasion of government into virtually all areas life. And life is in the balance.
HR5 will see more and more Americans forced to pay for abortions.
As Melanie Israel observes:
In practice, it could mean that a health care provider would be discriminating on the basis of sex if it refused to perform an abortion procedure; a hospital could be discriminating on the basis of sex if it refused to allow abortions to take place within its facility; and health insurance plans could be discriminating on the basis of sex if they do not include coverage for elective abortions.
And there is no exception for religious or moral convictions. Adds Israel:
The Equality Act specifically states that no claims for relief can be made under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which is the law that provided a pathway for groups such the Little Sisters of the Poor and businesses such as Hobby Lobby to receive relief at the Supreme Court from Obamacare’s onerous contraception mandate.
And “Republicans” John Katko, Tom Reed, and Brian Fitzpatrick -- all of whom swore oaths to protect and defend the US Constitution – backed this debased attack on free will.
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But recognizing the current crisis and those creating it is only part of our burden. For Americans to truly understand this shameful attack coming their way should the Senate pass their own version of the bill and reconcile it with the House version, we might want to ask how these perfidious politicians legalistically support HR5.
The answer lies in the dark side of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1946 Supreme Court decision that inspired it.
HR5 is designed to amend Sections 201 and 202 of the ’64 Act, sections called “The Public Accommodations” portion of the statute. It’s the same area of the Johnson-Era law that saw George H. W. Bush push and pass the so-called “Americans With Disabilities Act” (ADA), a 1990 statute that forced absurd architectural mandates on private businesses and caused such economic havoc that many establishments closed.
Simply put, the Public Accommodations section of the ’64 Civil Rights Act attacked rights – specifically, the right to control one’s own private property. A business is private property, not public property on which tax money is showered and over which every taxpayer lays a claim to some form of control. As such, private business owners are supposed to be able to control their property and the people with whom they will do business.
But the ’64 “Public Accommodations” portion saw the feds “relabel” private businesses at “public” places because, get this, “they are open to the public.” Hence, they destroyed the definition of “private property,” and opened the door to everyone arguing over how a private business will be run, rather than deciding with their own money if they do or do not like how that business caters to customers.
And that “Public Accommodations” portion was, in turn, based on a stunningly absurd 1946 Supreme Court decision called “Marsh v. Alabama,” which saw the FDR-appointed SCOTUS majority rule that an Alabama-based company that had created its own campus for employees could not block a woman from trespassing on the private property to dispense religious pamphlets. The majority of so-called “Justices” turned the private property into de jure “public” land by claiming it was a “public square” and, voila, the principle of private property was killed in the U.S.
So, while Nancy Pelosi and her pals – including those three shameful “Republicans” – have secured another victory for aggression masquerading as “care” and “equality,” as they strike another blow against biology, morality, God, life, and free will, we can learn about the important stepping stones that got those predators to our gates.
And we can pass on what we’ve learned as the battle shifts to the U.S. Senate.