Written by Don Byrd
Earlier this week, the White House announced President Obama’s intention to sign an Executive Order barring discrimination by federal contractors on the basis of sexual orientation. The move will have a similar impact on contractors with the government that the Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would have on most all workplaces. ENDA passed the U.S. Senate in November but has not been advanced in the House.
Central to ENDA’s bipartisan passage in the Senate was broad religious exemption language that would allow religious organizations the right to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Now, Senators are calling on the President to include religious exemption language in his Executive Order that mirrors the broad religious exemptions in the Senate bill.
Without the exemption, critics argue some religious contractors may be forced to choose between providing services or following their religious conscience (of course, they could also decline to accept and entangle themselves in federal money…). With exemptions, others maintain the purpose of the provision would be gutted.
Does this all sound familiar?
As Businessweek notes, this tension over religious exemptions is just the latest in a series:
The promised executive order is only the latest flashpoint in a series of Obama-era showdowns over when and how religious exceptions should shield believers from new or old laws. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, finding that a “ministerial exception” protected a church-run elementary school accused of firing a teacher for asserting her rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act. This month, meanwhile, the high court will rule on whether Hobby Lobby’s religious freedom rights trump the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate.
The Hobby Lobby decision should be announced some time this month. That may provide the President with a framework for how, and whether, to fashion a religious exemption. Or not. Stay tuned.
