By Ingrid Jacques, featuring Inez Stepman, senior policy analyst at Independent Women’s Forum
You have to hand it to Democrats. They are deft at naming legislation.
Many of the measures before Congress sound perfectly reasonable and fair, yet when you dig into them, the dangers quickly emerge.
The PRO Act, Paycheck Fairness Act, Equality Act and Equal Rights Amendment are just a few.
While these names indicate an expansion of rights and opportunities, in many cases they would do the opposite. And women stand to be harmed the most, which is ironic as some of the policies purport to help women.
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The president’s edict gives us a look at what the Equality Act—“an act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation”—would do if made law.
“The name is designed to silence opposition,” says Inez Stepman, a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum. She says when Americans are informed about what the bill would actually do, their support decreases dramatically.
The act, which recently passed the U.S. House, would expand the Civil Rights Act to include these new protections, but it is sweeping in scope and more alarmingly seeks to gut federal religious liberty protections. So, in effect, discrimination would be sanctioned against anyone with conscience objections.
Since the law would apply to “public accommodations” and retail shops such as florists or bakers, these business owners would no longer have the ability to decline baking a cake or creating an arrangement for a wedding they didn’t support without the threat of legal action.
Stepman says the Equality Act could erode women’s rights.
“In reality, erasing women as a legal category has a negative impact on women and girls,” she says.
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“I don’t think it’s a good thing to ignore biological differences of sex,” says Stepman. “We don’t think about what would happen if we treat men and women identically in every circumstance.”
Read the full article on The Detroit News.