Florida Family Policy Council joined other leading organizations across the country to file an amicus curiae, or “friend of the court”, brief in the Masterpiece Cakeshop v Colorado Civil Rights Commission case.  The Supreme Court agreed to review the case on June 26^th and oral arguments are expected to be heard this fall.   The case is one of many involving artists who have declined to use their artistic talents to participate in same-sex weddings on the basis of their religious beliefs.  While other cases involving photographers, florists, and the like have been working their way through the courts, this is the first time the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in this type of case; namely, where a law creating a new protected class for sexual orientation and gender identity has been passed and an artist has declined to provide their services for a same-sex wedding. In Florida, this type of law is called the “Competitive Workforce Act” and while those in the LGBT movement have attempted to pass it for many years, they have failed thus far.

In the case of Jack Phillips, two men came into Jack’s bakery in 2012 requesting a custom-designed wedding cake for their same-sex ceremony. In an exchange lasting only a few seconds, Jack offered to make the couple any other type of baked good or sell them a pre-made cake but stated that because of his faith he couldn’t design a cake celebrating that particular event.  The two men left and shortly after filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission alleging sexual orientation discrimination.  The Commission ruled against Jack in December 2013, saying that designing and creating cakes is not speech protected by the First Amendment. The Commission ordered Jack and his staff to go through a “re-education” program, implement new policies to comply with the Commission’s order, and file quarterly “compliance” reports for two years to show that Jack had completely eliminated his religious beliefs from his business.

The amicus brief focuses not only on arguments surrounding the right to a free exercise of religion but freedom of speech.  Specifically, the government cannot compel speech in violation of one’s conscience. If the Supreme Court rules against Jack, “the rights of all Americans would be trampled, but it would place a special burden on those Americans trying to earn a livelihood consistent with their faith.”  The Colorado Civil Rights Commission has maintained that it is not violating Jack Phillip’s freedom of speech because cake baking/decorating is not speech. However, in cases where a bakery was asked to design a cake with a message opposing same-sex marriage, the Commission upheld the bakery’s right to refuse service on free speech grounds.

The brief also argues that cake design is clearly art. Supreme Court precedent has defined art as speech and, thus, because the government cannot compel speech, it cannot compel a cake designer (or other artists) to use their artistic talents in regards to a same-sex wedding.  “The most dangerous aspect of the lower court’s decision is the idea that public accommodation laws somehow override the promise that ‘The First Amendment protects the right of individuals to hold a point of view different from the majority and to refuse to foster . . . an idea they find morally objectionable.’”

The brief concludes that “Government coercion of speech or conduct that violates the religious conscience of the speaker or actor is not only a violation of the First Amendment, it is also patently un-American and a gross violation of personal liberty.”

Florida Family Policy Council and its sister organization, Florida Family Action, continue to fight against instituting the same type of law as the one being used to punish Jack Phillips for simply trying to live a life consistent with his faith. However, while the anti-liberty and anti-business “Competitive Workforce Act” has failed for many years, it continues to pick up ignorant supporters unaware of the chilling and dangerous effect of these laws.   If passed, the “Competitive Workforce Act” would create a weapon to punish citizens who want to live and work according to their conscience without fear of reprisal by the government for exercising their right to religious freedom and free speech.

Click to download the persuasive Amicus Brief in PDF format.

The post Florida Family Policy Council Joins Amicus Brief Filed in Landmark US Supreme Court Religious Liberty Case appeared first on Florida Family Action.

I am sitting here stunned. Late last week, Congress voted on an amendment by Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which would have barred the use of taxpayer dollars for gender reassignment surgeries and hormone therapy for transgender members of the military.  Unfortunately, with the defection of 24 Republicans in the US House, the initiative failed and there is nothing to prevent the Obama-era policy from moving forward.

I believe that gender dysphoria (the condition of feeling one’s emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one’s biological sex) can be very painful for the individual with the condition. However, helping that person to ignore reality and basic biology and assisting them in harming their otherwise healthy body with medical treatments is not the answer. We certainly shouldn’t be using public funding to pay for those treatments!  In fact, Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, said that transgenderism is a “mental disorder” that merits treatment, that sex change is “biologically impossible,” and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder.  As a nation, we shouldn’t be promoting gender transition and the denial of biological reality, we should be helping those individuals struggling by getting them counseling.

Just over half (14 of 27) of Florida’s Congressional delegation voted against the amendment to bar funding for gender transition treatments, with the exception of mental health counseling. Especially disappointing are the three Florida Republicans who voted against the amendment in defiance of conservative principles.  FFPC reached out to each of those three Republican offices and asked them to vote yes on Hartzler’s amendment and ensure that you and I aren’t paying for treatments we believe to be fundamentally wrong.   Below is a list of every member who voted to allow the use of your tax dollars to pay for service members’ gender transition:

*Rep. Brian Mast asked that his vote be changed after the fact due to a mistake in voting

Already the Army is instructing women soldiers to accept sharing public showers, restrooms, and barracks with transgenders, including men who call themselves “women” yet remain fully anatomically male. This is absolutely outrageous!  Now, we are going to further perpetuate the myth that one can change one’s gender by paying for gender transition treatment.

This issue is only going become more prominent in Florida and cities throughout our state in the coming days, weeks, months, and years, so we all need to educate ourselves.  For that purpose, I’m including some resources on transgenderism:

• Understanding and Responding to the Transgender Movement by Dale O’Leary and Peter Sprigg (Family Research Council)
• VIDEO: Walt Heyer, former transgender, exposes the transgender movement (Louder with Crowder)
• VIDEO: Biology Isn’t Bigotry: Why Sex Matters in the Age of Gender Identity (Panel Discussion with the Hands Across the Aisle Coalition and Ryan T. Anderson)
• Hiding from the Sun: Gender Ideology’s Attack on Truth by Gerard T. Mundy (Public Discourse)

Florida Family Policy Council is committed to continuing to educate individuals on the transgender issue and to fight for common-sense public policy, but we need your help!

If conservative principles and being aware of this kind of information is important to you, please consider giving a gift today. Your gift will help us continue our work throughout the state of Florida and ensure that our shared values are being heard in the public square.  You can donate by clicking this link.

Thank you for your prayers and support as Florida Family Policy Council works to build a state and a nation where God is honored, life is cherished, families thrive, and religious liberty flourishes.

The post Congress Voted Against Banning Taxpayer Funding of Gender Transition Benefits for Military appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Many of these SOGI laws also involve a gross invasion of privacy and create safety and security issues by allowing fully biological men to use women’s bathrooms.  Don’t be fooled by smooth sounding names like “Human Rights Ordinances,” “Equal Rights Ordinances” and the latest deceptive name, the “Competitive Workforce Act.”  Adding totally subjective terms like sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to legitimate non-discrimination statutes directly undermines our First Amendment rights of religious liberty, free speech and freedom of association.

Jacksonville’s new Mayor, Lenny Curry, has called for three community hearings or conversations on the idea of revisiting whether or not the city should enact a “Human Rights Ordinance” (HRO) like the one that was defeated soundly in 2012 by the City Council.  The final community discussion was held this week. 

Continue to visit this page for the latest updates.

Current Research on the harm of HROs:
The Heritage Foundation: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Laws Threaten Freedom by Ryan T. Anderson, PhD 
All citizens should oppose unjust discrimination, but sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) laws are not the way to achieve that goal. SOGI laws are neither necessary nor cost-free. They threaten fundamental First Amendment rights. They create new, subjective protected classes that will expose citizens to unwarranted liability. Furthermore, SOGI laws would increase government interference in labor, housing, and commercial markets in ways that could harm the economy. Yet SOGI’s damage is not only economic: It would further weaken the marriage culture and the freedom of citizens and their associations to affirm their religious or moral convictions, such as that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and that maleness and femaleness are not arbitrary constructs but objective ways of being human. SOGI laws would treat expressing these widely held beliefs in certain contexts as unlawful discrimination.

Alliance Defending Freedom: Protect Your Ministry from SOGI: Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Lawsuits
The scope and nature of the threat posed by SOGIs and related laws warrants special, focused attention. This guide provides that focus. In the following pages, you will find examples of what other Christians around the country are facing; how your church, school, or ministry may be vulnerable to similar threats; and what you can do to secure crucial legal protections to help enable you to weather the fast-approaching legal storms.

Recent Jacksonville News on the Issue:
12.23.15: Councilan’s Pro HRO Op-Ed Generates Hate Mail, Positive Mail Pushback
The messaging war over expanding Jacksonville’s HRO, or human rights ordinance, is heating up as Christmas draws near, with District 3 City Councilman Aaron Bowman the latest to enter the fray…I can also tell you that we have lost businesses that were considering Jacksonville. And that we risk losing our current vital businesses due to our discriminatory ways. Just recently, the CEO of a large company here in Jacksonville that proposes to add hundreds of high-paying jobs told me that the project would go somewhere else if we do not pass the HRO. I haven’t heard an argument that would justify our behavior. And since I get so many emails from Jacksonville residents, I am going to ask for more.

12.21.15: First Baptist Church Weighs In On “Pansexuals,” Jax Hro Expansion: Referendum Would “Probably Not Pass”
“It is time to resolve the upcoming HRO expansion issue,” the letter began, stipulating that “if one’s religion precludes participating in an activity, or appearing to support that activity, that should be respected.”

12.19.15: HRO supporters and opponents see reason to hope Mayor Curry will fall on their side
Jacksonville is the next large city to tackle the issue after voters in Houston repealed a similar measure, giving the fight here higher visibility. Two City Council members filed opposing bills on the issue last week, but all eyes are on Curry, who just completed three wide-ranging town hall-like meetings on the ordinance and says he will take the holidays to decide how his administration will move forward.

“I’m not going to let political theater or antics or any movement pressure me into a timeline or the direction I’m going to go,” he said. “I began this process. I’m going to complete this process.”

12.19.15: Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford steps in on HRO while Mayor Curry mulls
Gulliford said he wants a decisive conclusion to the long-standing and divisive issue of expanding discrimination protections, but his unilateral action has frustrated council members who believe Curry, not the council, should have made the first move.

12.17.15: Atlantic Beach fields no complaints after adopting HRO
In August of 2014, the city [Atlantic Beach in Duval County] approved a measure after nearly a year of intense debate. Since then, records show, no one has filed a complaint alleging discrimination…”Doesn’t surprise me personally. Don’t think had an issue in the first place,” said Atlantic Beach Mayor Mitch Reeves…

Mayor Lenny Curry is still weighing options following three community meetings. The final community forum was held this week, drawing a standing room only crowd.

12.17.15: Jax Coalition for Equality: “Dismayed” by HRO Referendum
“A referendum would be a serious departure from the City Council’s responsibility to address discrimination based on status. Of all the categories in our HRO, none has ever been placed on a ballot,” the JCE statement continued, adding that “a referendum eliminates the ability to address legitimate and specific concerns through the deliberative process of City Council committee meetings.”

12.16.15: Email Insights: Jax City Council’s BIll Gulliford Calls for HRO Referendum
Following on the heels of Tuesday’s third, packed and final “community conversation” on expanding Jacksonville’s human rights ordinance to cover LGBT residents from discrimination, Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford has emailed media outlets saying he’s filed the same ordinance that was voted on in 2012 “with one addition – a provision for a referendum by the voters on the issue.”

12.16.15: Councilman wants voters to decide on HRO
Now that the town hall meetings on the proposed changes to Jacksonville’s Human Rights Ordinances are over, one councilman is calling for the choice to go to voters.

12.16.15: Open discussions on Jacksonville’s HRO ends
“You may not agree with the person sitting next to you, but we’re all here as citizens of Jacksonville,” said Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry.

12.15.15: Jacksonville HRO Community Conversations Finally Over
Gannam noted that he’s “been up here a lot lately,” and then observed that “this law is not warranted” given that “LGBT persons recognize the fairness of Jacksonville” and live here in great numbers.

12.14.15: Supporters of LGBT ordinance roll out list of supportive businesses; opponent says that proves his point
Supporters of adding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to Jacksonville’s anti-discrimination laws say they have collected written backing from more than 200 business people, including JAX Chamber Chairwoman-Elect Audrey Moran.

12.14.15: Don’t Discount Jax HRO Referendum Possibility
Though there is no Human Rights Ordinance expansion legislation yet, the possibility of such has been enough for many members of Jacksonville’s City Council, who have been hearing, pro and con, about the positions of people on this issue. This is especially true with the final Community Conversation on the subject looming at 6 p.m Tuesday at Jacksonville University’s Terry Concert Hall. With this in mind, and with the risk-aversion of most on Council in mind, an idea that has been getting traction is the idea of putting HRO expansion up to a popular vote. An HRO referendum.

12.14.15: Roger Gannam, Ken Adkins in Lenny Curry’s Final HRO “Community Conversation”
FloridaPolitics.com has obtained a list of panelists for the third Community Conversation on the Jax Human Rights Ordinance expansion. One of the names is familiar: Roger Gannam, of the Liberty Counsel, who has been a often lonely voice on the first two panels opposing HRO expansion.

12.10.15: African American Jax Pastors Call For HRO Expansion Referendum
A referendum sunk the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance. And a group of 19 African-American Jacksonville pastors, at a Thursday afternoon news conference at the First Timothy Baptist Church on Jacksonville’s Northside, stated their opposition to an expanded Human Rights Ordinance, while saying that any ballot measure on such should be handled by popular referendum…“We cannot and will not support any ordinance driven by sexual orientation,” Newbill said, adding that the Civil Rights Act “covers what needs to be covered.” As well, Newbill added, “whatever comes out needs to be done by referendum.”

12.10.15: Jacksonville pastors call for referendum on HRO
Pastor Fred Newbill of First Timothy Baptist Church, flanked by 18 other pastors, offered a referendum as a solution to settle the ongoing debate in the city on whether or not to expand what is currently on the books.

“We have the federal law that applies to all of us, we have the state law that applies to all of us. Then we have local ordinances,” Newbill said in defense of why Jacksonville should not include sexual orientation.

12.10.15: Audrey Moran Issues Jax Hro “Call To Action”
The stakes are high, for activists on both sides, and will get higher as legislation goes from a theoretical construct to a reality…The battleground of this legislation is not going to be on the lesbian, gay, or bisexual protections; it will be on the transgender population. Those who are opposed will work to frame the action as a “bathroom bill,” and push toward referendum. Proponents, clearly, are going to have to counter those overt appeals to populism.

12.08.15: Guest column: LGBT people in Jacksonville do not need a Human Rights Ordinance
The proposed law would grant the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission enormous coercive power to investigate complaints against real, law-abiding citizens of Jacksonville, subpoena their documents, impose fines and attorneys’ fees, sue them in court and refer their cases to the state attorney for criminal prosecution.

12.07.15: Jacksonville Community Council: HRO Panelist Misrepresented 2009 Discrimination Study
At Thursday’s Jacksonville HRO community forum, Liberty Counsel lawyer Roger Gannam argued against adding LGBT protections to the city’s human rights ordinance, saying they’re just not needed.

“A law like this should be passed in response to a problem,” Gannam said. “Jacksonville does not have a widespread or systematic problem with discrimination against anyone.”

…With a news conference looming on Thursday afternoon, in which anti-expansion pastors expound upon their goals and strategy, it will be interesting to see when and how the Jacksonville Coalition for Equality and the national Human Rights Campaign countermessage the other side.

12.4.15: HRO discussions truck along in divided Jacksonville
Mayor Lenny Curry scheduled the Community Conversations and a bill is expected to be filed with the city council in early 2016. The third and final Community Conversation on the HRO is 6 p.m. Dec. 15 at Jacksonville University’s Public Policy Institute. That discussion’s focus will be on the legal and business impacts of the proposed HRO.

12.4.15: Jacksonville faith leaders discuss how changing city’s human rights ordinance could affect religious freedom
One major question that could affect churches is whether or not a church would fall under the definition of a public accommodation.

12.4.15: Dr. Albert Mohler Podcast “The Briefing” on Jax HRO Issue
…Now the scene has shifted to Jacksonville and one of the lessons we need to understand in terms of the moral revolution is that those who are pushing it simply come back again and again and again. The strategy is to bring back the issue again and again, to wear down resistance and eventually to gain a political victory by one means or another. There’s also something we need to keep very much in mind here and we can only hope that the political leaders in Jacksonville, Florida have read some recent history, including the headlines.

12.4.15: What HRO Expansion Opponents Tell Jax Mayor Lenny Curry
…there are opponents to the bill, who have been emailing Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry with their thoughts.

12.3.15: Community meeting on LGBT law is more civil Thursday night
With tightened security measures in place, Mayor Lenny Curry convened a second town hall meeting Thursday about whether Jacksonville should add LGBT people to the city’s anti-discrimination law. The 90-minute meeting attracted about 700 people to an Edward Waters College gym for a discussion that focused on “Religious Freedoms, Thoughts and Beliefs.” The crowd heard a four-person panel engage in a back-and-forth debate over what impact expanding the anti-discrimination law would have on religious institutions. Opponents of changing the law said it would erode religious liberties. Supporters said the law would be written in a way to ensure that would not happen.

12.3.15: Human Rights Ordinance polarizing at public forum
Hundreds of people debated Thursday evening whether Jacksonville needs to amend its Human Rights Ordinance to protect members of the LGBT community.

12.3.15: Jacksonville Faith Leaders Come Out In Support Of LGBT Inclusive HRO
Seventy-seven Jacksonville faith leaders have signed a letter in support of an inclusive human rights ordinance.

12.3.15: Jax Coalition For Equality Announces 75 Faith Leaders’ Support For Fully-Inclusive HRO, Including Lenny Curry’s Pastor
Ahead of the Thursday evening Human Rights Ordinance Jacksonville “Community Conversation” on religious issues related to expanding the HRO to the LGBT community, the Jacksonville Coalition for Equality held an afternoon presser with some of the 75 faith leaders who support a fully-inclusive HRO. Among those faith leaders in support: Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry‘s own pastor, Bruce Jones of Southside United Methodist Church.

11.30.15: After a Defeat in Houston, the fight for gay rights shifts to Jacksonville
The first major gay rights showdown since Houston’s rancorous vote to repeal its anti-discrimination ordinance is shaping up here in Jacksonville, the largest city in the nation whose leaders have never enacted civil rights protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people…One major difference: In Houston, voters this month rolled back an existing ordinance; in Jacksonville, for now, the issue is before elected officials…Gay rights groups have poured tens of thousands of dollars into an aggressive effort to persuade the City Council to expand its existing Human Rights Ordinance, and to elect candidates who favor doing so.

Nov 2015: The Anti-LGBT Earthquake from Houston
…DC-based Human Rights Campaign (HRC) spent a fortune maintaining its 34-activist army – salaries, housing, travel, expenses. That army is now relocating to Jacksonville and Charlotte to expand those stealth HRC operations which the press won’t report.

As in Jacksonville, some Houston businesses turned against the community, unjustly calling it bigoted, and collaborated in the national LGBT power grab. They were duped by HRC’s preposterous “LGBT laws are good for business” myth. And they fell for the “LGBT civil rights” hoax – in reality a ploy to make government outlaw opposition to LGBT lifestyles.

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