A bill that allows Kentuckians to file legal lawsuits if they believe the government has violated their religious freedom has now passed through a commission.
What You Need To Know
- House Bill 47 passed through the council on Wednesday.
- It may make it possible for people to file legal claims if they believe their spiritual rights have been violated.
- It would support state regulations and local ordinances.
- Opponents fear that it will undermine Fairness Ordinances, which forbid discrimination against gay people.
House Bill 47 aims to strengthen Kentucky’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which became law in 2013. A judge may eventually decide these activities if the bill expands that section of the law. It would also protect local ordinances as well as state laws.
“HB 47 ensures that Kentucky authorities will use the most accommodating language to ensure that spiritual Kentuckians have a good time in court,” act partner State Rep. Steve Rawlings, R-Burlington, said.
The Fairness Campaign, a party advocating for LGBTQ rights in Kentucky, opposed this act. Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, believes it could target Fairness Ordinances by those who don’t support them.
Since 1999, 24 areas in Kentucky have passed legislation that prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ people.
According to Hartman, “we shouldn’t create extensive religious exemptions that encourage people to pick and choose which laws they’ll abide by or file lawsuits at taxpayers’ expense for anything they don’t agree with.”
Rawlings refutes the idea that his bill would sway people to file obscene lawsuits because he doesn’t agree with those ordinances.
“(Religious Freedom Restoration Acts are) in 25 states. Many of the states have been under the law for 10 or 12 years, and you don’t have those, the theoreticals that we’ve been hearing. That the alternatives, the types of statements have been brought up. That hasn’t happened,” Rawlings said.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian-based organization that promotes religious liberty, was one of the speakers in support of the bill. Due to its anti-LGBT stances, the left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled it a hate group.
“So it’s not going to choose any specific results. Every situation is extremely fact-specific. According to Greg Chafuen, policy director for Alliance Defending Freedom, it only gives people an opportunity to take their cases before a judge to balance those two objectives.
Hartman believes the Alliance would benefit from this bill’s passage, at the cost of Kentuckians.
The Alliance Defending Freedom is a “national attention group” that tries to evade paying taxes on Kentucky by scurrying through our state to sue every city and county that has a fairness ordinance, according to Hartman.
Although the majority of party lines were used to support this bill, three Democrats sided with Republicans in voting against it.
“I do believe that we must be extremely cautious when we say that you can be allowed to discriminate against people based on your religious convictions. That is not what we need to be doing here in this commonwealth,” State Rep. Keturah Herron, D-Louisville, said.
Some Republicans who voted well in the committee said they were hopeful that more legislation could be done to narrow down the language of the bill to stop some claims.
