Bush Paper says Job Discrimination is a Religious Liberty

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - The Bush administration released a position paper on June 24 that referred to discrimination against LGBT people as "civil rights and religious liberty."

The paper, which serves as a guide to talking points for the administration's "faith-based" initiative, opines that religious organizations using government money to provide social services should only be subjected to federal civil rights laws, which do not protect on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and not state or local laws and ordinances.

"This hodgepodge of conflicting approaches has led to confusion . . . and a consequent reluctance by many faith-based groups to seek support from federally funded programs . . . The real losers are the homeless, the addicted, and others who are denied access to a range of effective social service providers, including faith-based providers," the paper states, asserting that civil rights protections for LGBT people are detrimental to the ability of the poor to get social services.

"We consider this a declaration of war on the civil rights protections our community has won through hard-fought battles in many states and hundreds of municipalities across the nation over the last 30 years," National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director Matt Foreman said.