Stop in the name of common sense

A lower court recently ruled that South Carolina CANNOT prevent men pretending to be women from invading private spaces for women.

Last week, South Carolina filed an emergency petition to the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to restore the state’s right to protect women by excluding men from bathrooms and locker rooms. The state rightly argues that these safeguards are essential for safety — especially for schoolchildren.

The legal decision is absurd. Men cannot be “women.” However, if Congress passes the so-called Equality Act (HR 15), the outrageous result of this court ruling will apply nationwide!

HR 15 defies biological reality. It abolishes the obvious construct of male and female. The consequences are catastrophic. What is ongoing in South Carolina could become the new national standard. In our lifetime, we could see this federal mandate forcing access to restrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms. And worse, anyone who objects to the LGBT & Q agenda will be persecuted.

Every Democrat in the House and Senate has endorsed HR 15. Some Republicans voted for a prior version of this bill. If a few cave, this bill will pass. Congress must hear from you.

An 18-year-old student, Austin Sauer Rhinelander, at High School in Wisconsin was arrested for assault, child enticement, and exposure inside the school’s gender-neutral bathroom. Gender-neutral bathrooms are a direct result of the radical LGBTQ agenda. Rather than enforce male and female distinctions, this is the culmination of the movement to abolish gender.

South Carolina doesn’t want to become a breeding ground for sexual assaults and abuse. But if HR 15 passes, South Carolina will not have a fighting chance.

South Carolina’s petition urges the High Court to allow enforcement of its single-sex use of school bathrooms and locker rooms (with funding penalties for noncompliance). The state argues that this policy protects privacy and reduces stress for students “still developing mentally, physically, emotionally, and socially.” And the state is right.

In contrast, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (the most reversed federal appellate court in the nation) issued a ruling that exposes girls to harm from predators. If the Equality Act passes, states would have no choice but to require girls and women to accept men in their bathrooms.

From our work on Capitol Hill, we know that many members of Congress will not act unless they hear from concerned citizens. That is why your voice is so critical.

The Equality Act will:

• Force open doors for men to invade private spaces for women. According to the bill, “an individual shall not be denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual’s gender identity.”

• Massively expand “public accommodations.” It reaches retail and service providers and is not limited to physical places, pulling internet/online businesses, ministries, and nonprofits under new federal enforcement.

• Remove the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) as a defense. The bill states: “The Religious Freedom Restoration Act … shall not provide a claim or a defense” to actions under its covered titles — erasing a key protection for people of faith.

In short: HR 15 federalizes a radical gender ideology, preempts religious liberty defenses, abolishes private spaces for women, and will result in persecution of anyone who refuses to become an LGBTQ cheerleader. That’s not “equality.” HR 15 tramples privacy, parental rights, and religious freedom.

Liberty Counsel Action is on Capitol Hill daily to make your voice impossible to ignore. We’re briefing offices, preparing legal analysis, and mobilizing a coalition to stop HR 15 before it reaches a vote. But we need you in this fight. Your faxes are critically important, and they supplement our in-person meetings.

If you’re able, please also help us keep up the pressure with a gift — 25, 50, or 100 dollars, or make it monthly — so we can scale up faxes, meetings, and rapid-response outreach while this bill is live.

With gratitude,