U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, an Allentown Republican, sponsored a bipartisan amendment to remove an anti-LGBT provision from next year’s proposed $583 billion defense-spending plan, but the vote was blocked in a move May 18 by other House Republicans.
The news comes just a day after Eric Fanning, a gay man, received bipartisan confirmation in the Senate to serve as U.S. Army Secretary.
In a statement to PGN, Dent said, “The language adopted by the Armed Services Committee was overly-broad and could lead to discrimination against some in the LGBT community. I offered this bipartisan amendment to remove the controversial language from the Defense authorization legislation which is the foundation for providing for the needs of the men and women in our armed services.”
A provision put forth last month by Rep. Steve Russell, an Oklahoma Republican, in the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act would allow contracts and grants to be withheld if religious liberty is cited. Many see the provision as putting in jeopardy President Barack Obama’s executive order that prohibits discrimination in federal contracting based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
“I strongly believe that efforts to protect religious liberty must be linked to protections against discrimination,” Dent said. “We cannot fall into the misconception that religious freedom and nondiscrimination are mutually exclusive.”
David Stacy, government affairs director with the Human Rights Campaign, said he felt disappointed that Congress could not even debate removing the anti-LGBT provision. He thanked several Republicans, including Dent, and Democrats for supporting nondiscrimination in defense spending.
“They understand that this House should be expanding protections for LGBT people rather than catering to the far right wing and taking our country backwards,” Stacy said in a statement.
The White House Office of Management and Budget released a 17-page document this week on legislation pending before Congress that suggests Obama may veto the defense-spending plan for several reasons.