Washington, D.C. – Yesterday the U.S. House Judiciary Committee heard hours of testimony about HR 5 -- the so-called Equality Act. However this act will promote inequality for religious people, organizations and women. A full link to the video of testimony is here.

Chairman Jerrold Nadler wants to erase the possibility of places in America that still protect religious freedom. His opening statements declared, "There is no reason that [LGBT] discrimination that is explicitly illegal in one part of the country should not be explicitly illegal in all parts of the country." Yet this ignores the Catholic adoption agencies that were shut down in Boston, San Francisco, and right here in D.C. because of their practical and religious belief that children do best in families with a mother and father. Rep. Nadler said such laws demanding this, are "long overdue."

Without providing any evidence, Chairman Nadler claims, "The scaremongering about potential bathroom predators has not turned out to be true." However the reality is that Liberty Counsel has found nearly 80 public instances of people using such bathroom laws to abuse and molest women and girls. These are just the arrests or violations made public and brought to our attention.

The vast majority of the hearing was taken up by those pushing HR 5. Chairman Nadler even asked Rep. Matt Gaetz to yield his time a mere 21 seconds into his comments. However, here are some key quotes from the hearing:

"The legislation would only nominally protect individuals while causing tremendous harm to others,"said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). "Faith-based businesses, religious institutions and religious groups would find their rights greatly jeopardized by the legislation as it explicitly prevents claims from being filed under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act." Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) quoted Chairman Nadler saying, "'What has made America work. What has saved us from the poisonous hatreds that are consuming other nations has been a tolerance and respect for diversity enshrined in the freedom of religion clauses of our Bill of Rights. It was no accident that the framers of our Bill of Rights chose to place the free exercise of religion first among our fundamental freedoms, the House should do no less.'"

Below is a sample of additional quotes from the hearing:

"This legislation creates more problems than it solves. It will chill freedom of speech. It will harm religious liberty. It will undermine women’s rights," said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)

"We’ve given a lot of testimony to show how this would affect women negatively and that’s just being…(pauses to control emotion) We were told to 'Let it go.' This [HR 5] would eliminate women and girls as a coherent legal category worthy of civil rights protections," said Ms. Julia Beck.

"HR 5 gives us a definition of gender that is based in stereotypes," said Rep. Tom McClintock.

"There is no way to tell if someone is lying about being transgender." (Beck)

"This legislation significantly and overtly undermines religious freedom and it’s not something worth celebrating because it will harm people and communities of faith across our nation. (Gaetz)

"Will all sex-based distinctions be erased? Would grants for female-led businesses or programs for women in the STEM field suddenly be open to all persons whether they believe or not they identify as a woman? …I am concerned about the potential of bad actors who would exploit the provisions in this law for their own gain." (Gaetz)

There was a revealing interaction when Rep. Tom McClintock asked, "What should we tell a woman-owned business who lost a government-owned contract" to a man posing as a woman? In Sunu Chandy’s reply she said, "Transgender women are women… I would tell them if it was a transgender woman I would say, 'You lost out, another woman won. It was probably a better application.'" Rep McClintock continued with his concerns: "By your definition, the only way to tell if a person is lying is to read their minds, which is beyond our abilities and I want to ask you what if every government contractor in America identified as a woman, what mechanism is there to verify that all of these men are doing it for genuine transition as opposed to trying to game the system. You can’t tell unless you can read their minds." Sunu Chandy ended her reply saying, "Not being able to tell is not an issue in civil rights law."

Proponents of HR 5 are willing to throw religious freedom and women under the bus for something that is impossible to determine if a person is making it up or not.

Liberty Counsel Action is a 501(c)(4), nonprofit, grassroots organization advancing religious and civil liberties, the sanctity of human life, the family, limited and responsible government, national security, and support for Israel in Washington D.C. and across America. Liberty Counsel Action can provide interviews by email, phone, and broadcast quality TV interviews via Hi-Def Skype and LTN at no cost.

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