The First Amendment to the Constitution is probably the most misunderstood amendment, likely because it is the one that most people know about. Few things are funnier than hearing it misused by people who say things like “You can’t ban me from this website, I have First Amendment rights!” It’s one thing for internet trolls to not have a grasp of what the First Amendment means; it’s quite another for churches to think that they have a right to discriminate while getting government contracts.
The issue at hand is, as Kevin Drum reports, one of the most underreported stories of the year. Catholic bishops in Illinois, as in many other states, are leaving the charity business because they would be forced to follow non-discrimination laws aimed at the GLBT community. If that was the sum total of the issue, frankly it wouldn’t be a problem: if an entity doesn’t want to follow the requirements of a government contract, then they have every right to stop seeking out contracts. But sadly, it doesn’t stop there. Instead, the church is claiming that they are being subjected to religious discrimination. As a result, they are asking for the right to continue discriminating while receiving government funding.
I’m blown away by the audacity of this stance. Would the church be willing to refuse to service non-whites, or maybe mixed-race couples, or people with disabilities? Highly doubtful, and even if they did, very few people would defend such an action. Yet it’s acceptable to not only refuse services to gay people, but to demand that the government let them continue to discriminate against them indefinitely. To not allow it is to lead the churches to be the victims of “intolerance”. Yes, they say that without a hint of irony.
If you think that there is something wrong with gays getting married or being parents or being treated like everybody else, then that’s your right. But don’t demand that the rest of the world indulge your beliefs, or worse yet, give you taxpayer money for treating others like second-class citizens. Especially when the future is not the discriminatory past you have been living in.