A federal bill that would allow individuals or businesses to ignore the new marriage-equality mandate because of religious beliefs is gaining steam — with the help of six Republicans from Pennsylvania.
The so-called First Amendment Defense Act was introduced last month to the U.S. House of Representatives and now has 130 cosponsors, including Pennsylvania Reps. Keith Rothfus (12th Dist.), Joseph Pitts (16th Dist.), Mike Kelly (Third Dist.), Tim Murphy (18th Dist.), Scott Perry (Fourth Dist.) and Tom Marino (10th Dist.).
Kelly, Murphy and Rothfus represent areas of Western Pennsylvania, while Pitts and Perry represent Central Pennsylvania and Marino’s district includes portions of Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania.
The legislation, introduced by Rep.Raúl Labrador (Idaho), is almost entirely Republican-backed, except for Democratic cosponsor Rep. Daniel Lipinski of Illinois.
The measure would ban the federal government from penalizing any “person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.”
Under the bill, the government would be prevented from revoking a business’ tax-exempt status, disallowing tax deductions for charitable contributions or altering a federal grant, contract or participation in a federal benefits program. It is not limited to religious organizations, but rather any “person, religious affiliation or lack thereof.”
“Once again, House Republicans are pursuing an extreme agenda that is designed to harm LGBT families under the guise of religious freedom,” said Human Rights Campaign legal director Sarah Warbelow. “The right to believe is fundamental. The right to use taxpayer dollars to discriminate is not. Religious freedom is valued by all Americans, but this bill has nothing to do with the First Amendment.”
The legislation was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Ways and Means. It was also cosponsored by New Jersey Reps. Scott Garrett and Christopher Smith.
A companion piece in the Senate, led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), has 36 cosponsors, none of whom are local.