ActionLink: Center Action Network

Religious Refusals

New section

What does religious refusal mean?

It's becoming more common to hear about cases of people, businesses, and organizations refusing to provide services to a certain population group based on religious objections. This type of discrimination has shown up in various settings. Some recent examples are:

Graduate students training to be social workers refused to provide therapy services to gay people.
Pharmacies refusing to fill women's birth control prescriptions.
Bridal salons, photo studios, and reception halls closing their doors to same-sex couples planning their weddings.

Freedom of religion is important, and it means that we all have a right to our religious beliefs. But that does not give us the right to use our religion to discriminate against and impose those beliefs on others who do not share them.

Fulton v. City of Philadelphia

On November 4th. 2020; the Supreme Court will hear a case that could allow private agencies that receive taxpayer-funding to provide government services — such as foster care providers, food banks, homeless shelters, and more — to deny services to people who are LGBTQ+, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon or otherwise don’t meet those agencies’ religious criteria.

A taxpayer-funded foster care agency in Philadelphia, Catholic Social Services, has asked the Supreme Court to establish a constitutional right to discriminate that could allow taxpayer-funded agencies across the country to turn away qualified families who don’t meet their religious test because they are LGBTQ+, of a different religion, don’t go to church, or any other reason.

ActionLink, along with over 1,000 other organizaitons, joined friend-of-the-court briefs in opposition to this request.

Join us for a virtual town hall the night of oral arguments.

DATE
Wednesday, November 4, 2020

TIME
5pm PT / 6pm MT / 7pm CT / 8pm ET

PANELISTS
Sarah Warbelow (HRC)
Sunu Chandy (NWLC)
Shelbi Day (Family Equality)
Dena Sher (Americans United)
Moderator: Laura McGinnis (PFLAG National)

Join our panel of experts to break down the case, the arguments made at the court, potential outcomes, and what we can do between now and #DecisionDay (#DD). Participants will also be able to submit their questions to the panel.

Read the story of Ami and Val of Zionsville, PA. They're moms to three children who came out of the foster system and they strongly oppose discrimination in an adoption/foster care setting.