Republicans Effort To Declare LGBT+ A Religion Backfired

Back in January, and for the second time since 2018, the GOP of North Dakota introduced House Bill 1476 and intended to ratify it into law.

Like so many of the deeply discriminatory bills, this was a new and bold way to strip all LGBTQ of their rights by laying the groundwork to reclassify the community as an organized religion referred to as “Secular humanists.” In effect, such an extreme move would allow the state government, predominantly made up of Republicans, to create discriminatory laws against the LGBTQ+ community citing Separation of Church and State.

Congressman Randy Garber (R-Kansas) introduced a bill titled “Marriage and Constitution Restoration Act” that attempts to achieve the same result; Claiming LGBTQ+ people are motivated by a “Godless” religion, and thus enshrining their protections in law is unconstitutional. The bill refers to gay marriage as “Parody Marriage,” and like the bills introduced in North Dakota, intends to prohibit the enforcement of Obama-era policies and federal guidance that acknowledges same-sex couples, trans and non-binary identities and alienates anyone who doesn’t identify solely as heterosexual or cisgender by classifying them as “Secular humanists.” There would be far reaching implications that would effect a number of current federal protection laws, including the encroachment…