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Despicable contradiction – does he take us for idiots?

By Melanie Nathan, March 24, 2014.

I must say I am in a state of shock at the hypocrisy of the latest HRC (Human Rights Campaign) fund raising ploy.  The fundraiser is focused on fighting religious bigotry because, as they say, our enemies are “Using religion as a weapon to legalize discrimination against LGBT people.”  And all the while HRC is in effect doing the same, by pumping $2million dollars into promoting the ENDA legislation that codifies that very religious bigotry into law. This is simply outrageous and a classic “WTF” moment!

Just last week HRC announced that they were spending $2million dollars on their fight to push the current Senate passed ENDA Bill through the House.

That bill has been criticized by ACLU, NCLR, LAMBDA Legal, 1AngryOldLesbian.org, and others, including yours truly, as being of great concern, due to the extremely onerous religious exemptions in the legislation:

“While we applaud the progress that has been made, we stand united in expressing very grave concerns with the religious exemption in ENDA. This sweeping, unprecedented exemption undermines the core goal of ENDA by leaving too many jobs, and LGBT workers, outside the scope of its protections.” – American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Transgender Law Center.

HRC is promoting the ENDA that will in fact be codifying religious bigotry into the law and HRC is spending $2milion dollars to do it:

“Last week, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) announced a $2 million campaign to push for the House Vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 (ENDA). This campaign partnership with Americans for Workplace Opportunity (AWO) is similar to the $2.5 one announced last July 31st to push for the Senate vote.

Working closely with GOP donors, HRC seems content to codify legalized discrimination through the existing broad religious exemptions contained in the 2013 ENDA version passed by the Senate last fall.” (Cathy Kristofferson, OLOGDEE)

In the next breath and a mere two weeks later, HRC sends out the fund raising letter below, trying to raise money off the backs of the very same religious bigotry they are supporting with their $2 million dollar donation.

Here is Chad Griffin’s shocking e-mail sent to supporters in a fund raising push, which I received today

Melanie –

Foes of equality see the writing on the wall.

State by state, they are losing the fight for marriage equality.

So they are resorting to an insidious new tactic to undermine lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights:

Using religion as a weapon to legalize discrimination against LGBT people.

Last month HRC supporters helped shut down abominable “License to Discriminate” bills in Arizona and, for now, Kansas and South Dakota.

Unbelievably, the bills – thinly veiled ploys to allow discrimination against LGBT people – could have made it legal to discriminate against individuals on the grounds of “religious freedom.”

If these bills had gone through as intended, private businesses in these states could have legally refused an LGBT person anything from a seat at a restaurant, to photography services for their wedding, to accounting and tax counsel – all because of who they are or who they love.

Tens of thousands of HRC supporters, fair-minded business leaders and people of faith said “NO!” to these sickening anti-equality ploys because treating people differently based on who they are is discrimination. Lawmakers listened, and many of these hateful bills have stopped in their tracks – at least for now.

But this new and dangerous form of attack on LGBT equality is just the beginning. We have concerns that efforts like these could be revived in any of the 33 states that do not protect LGBT people at the state level. Even in states like Maine, where there are state-level protections for LGBT people, we recently had to fight back efforts to carve out an exception that would have deliberately exposed LGBT people to legalized discrimination.

We must be prepared to move swiftly to shut down these efforts to divide and discriminate wherever they appear. Our immediate goal is to raise $150,000 by March 31st to fight back against these efforts and continue to press forward for non-discrimination initiatives in the next 90 days.

Melanie, can I count on you to help in one of two ways?

DONATE NOW. Your generous gift will equip HRC immediately to help prevent proposed “License to Discriminate” bills and push forward aggressively for non-discrimination protections and marriage equality in the next 90 days.

BECOME A MONTHLY CONTRIBUTOR. Better yet, by making a monthly contribution on your credit card you will help fight back against threats to LGBT civil rights immediately, AND provide essential ongoing support toward equality. To show our thanks for taking this special step for equality, we’ll send you an HRC eco-friendly tote.

Let me assure you, wherever one of these heinous “License to Discriminate” bills gets introduced, HRC will be there fighting with the full force of our conviction for equality.

But in turn I am counting on the full force of HRC supporters to stand with us to help squash these hateful attempts to legalize discrimination and to continue to champion LGBT equality in the months ahead.

Take action now. And thank you for standing on the right side of history by standing with HRC.

With hope and gratitude,
Chad Griffin
President

My mouth has yet to close – my shock palpable – that Chad Griffin would take us all for such fools – speaking out of both sides of his mouth and thinking no one would notice. Seriously there is something wrong in this contradictory messaging, where religious exemptions seem acceptable in employment but not in marriage discrimination. I am speechless – lets hear from you!

#SelfdestructingGAYS

By Melanie Nathan
[email protected]

 

HRC Boots Activist Protesting ENDA’s Broad Religious Exemptions

Lesbian Avenger film screening event makes perfect backdrop for ENDA religious exemption protest

By Cathy Kristofferson, March 21, 2014

Last week, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) announced a $2 million campaign to push for the House Vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 (ENDA). This campaign partnership with Americans for Workplace Opportunity (AWO) is similar to the $2.5 one announced last July 31st to push for the Senate vote Read more