<% IssueDate = "9/23/03" IssueCategory = "Events" %>

Top Story Bush Now Allows Bigots to Discriminate at Taxpayers' Expense Issues Anti-Gay Regulations to Support Faith-Based Institutions National Stonewall Democrats Charge Pandering to Right-Wingers Compiled By GayToday This controversial image of George W. Bush appeared in an article in GQ on Bush's ties to religious groups Washington, D.C.-- White House efforts to allow faith-based institutions to discriminate with taxpayer money were denounced by the National Stonewall Democrats yesterday. As part of four new regulations issued by the Bush Administration, faith-based institutions will now be eligible to receive federal grants and contracts while discriminating in employment on basis of religion. Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity will be allowed if those characteristics conflict with a religious organization's "mission and vision." "In a blatant pander to his right-wing base, President Bush is over-riding state civil rights laws," said Dave Noble, NSD Executive Director. "As long as Jerry Falwell believes that gays are going to hell, he can receive federal money to discriminate against them." In August of 2001, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives published a report that called for religious charities that receive federal money to be allowed to ignore non-discrimination laws. In response, President Bush issued an Executive Order in December of 2002 that directed federal agencies to find ways to allow such changes. The Bush Administration's new rules finalize these changes. Under current law, religious groups are eligible to receive federal funding to operate government programs as long as they do not discriminate on the basis of religion. Historically, and legally, religious discrimination has served as a back-door for discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. During a heated press conference yesterday, one reporter explained to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao that the new rules would allow for discrimination based on sexual orientation. Secretary Chao mistakenly replied that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 barred discrimination based on sexual orientation. However, no federal law outlaws employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the Bush Administration opposes any attempt to correct that fact. In June, the Bush Administration sent a position paper to congressional offices that argued that religious charities that receive federal funding should be able to ignore religious non-discrimination laws. The paper further stated that local and state non-discrimination statues that include sexual orientation and gender identity result in a "tangle of laws" and were a "contradictory statutory scheme" that victimizes the homeless. Last year, Democrats kept the Republican leadership from pushing through large, discriminatory provisions in the President's "faith-based" agenda. Failing to win approval through Congress, the Bush Administration has taken numerous executive actions allowing for discrimination.

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