An evangelical group is trying to strip LGBTQ protections from an anti-lynching bill

[brooklynite]

Vox:

Congress is finally close to passing a bill that makes lynching a hate crime — but an evangelical group is trying to remove any reference to LGBTQ communities from the legislation.

When the Senate unanimously passed the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act in December, it marked an important step in a roughly century-long effort to outlaw the practice at the federal level. But before the House begins considering its version of the legislation, the Liberty Counsel, an evangelical litigation group, is calling for the bill to be stripped of language that refers to gender identity or sexual orientation.

In an interview this week with Christian news outlet OneNewsNow, Liberty Counsel chair Mat Staver argued that references to sexual orientation and gender identity in the bill would make it easier for the government to pass additional protections for LGBTQ people.

“The old saying is once that camel gets the nose in the tent, you can’t stop them from coming the rest of the way in,” Staver said. “And this would be the first time that you would have in federal law mentioning gender identity and sexual orientation as part of this anti-lynching bill.”

Staver said that he generally supported the anti-lynching legislation, but argued that the language was a way to “slip in” LGBTQ rights as part of a bill legislators would struggle to openly oppose.

[dlk]

1. In this Case, Would it be Appropriate to Ask, "Who Would Jesus Lynch"?