July 20. 2001 ’ ju st out 2
news
posed changes in the Federal Register, a period
for public comment and issuing of a final rule.
But, Henderson said, “If a religious entity choos
es to participate in the public marketplace, using
federal dollars to carry out its program, then it
should he regulated by the principle that no federal
money should be used for discriminatory purposes.”
It can discriminate with its own money, he added.
og Cabin Republicans spokesman Kevin
Ivers believes the story was poorly handled
by the Post and has been overplayed. He said the
W hite House contacted them on the evening of
July 9, alerting them to an inquiry by the
reporter a few hours before the article went up
on the newspaper’s Internet site. The contact
said that the Salvation Army had an opportuni
ty to express its views but that the administra
tion made no commitment of support.
That made sense to Ivers. He remembered
that in the heat of the primary campaign, can
didate Bush passed up an opportunity to com
ment on California’s anti-gay Proposition 22,
saying it was a local matter not a national one.
Ivers didn’t see the administration “doing a 180”
degree turn on an issue like federalism.
Ivers did go on the attack against the Salva
tion Army, saying, “This is an organization that
discriminates against gays and is proud of it.” He
thinks the incident will “raise serious questions
about their credibility” to deliver social services
in an unbiased manner.
L
he Salvation Army issued a statement say
ing its concerns were raised in the context
of being asked “to identify harriers in govern
ment-provided social service funding.” It noted
federal law provides an exemption for religious
institutions where policy conflicts with faith.
T
The W hite House released a statement saying
it will not pursue the change in the Circular
♦ A -102 regulation suggested by the Salvation
Army. It believes existing laws and the faith-
based legislation passed by the House Judiciary
Committee offer sufficient protections both of
civil rights and of religious organizations’ "right to
hire individuals who share their religious faith.”
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., had
offered a clarifying amendment requiring chari
ties to adhere to all state and local nondiscrimi
nation laws. It was defeated in a party-line vote.
HRC announced July 13 its opposition to
the bill in its current form, saying it was “highly
flawed” and “would create a situation where
many Americans would be publicly subsidizing
their own discrimination.” Another concern is
that the measure does not adequately ensure
practical secular alternatives are available for
people who do not want to participate in a faith-
based program.
But the House thwarted HRC’s efforts July 19
by voting 234T95 to make this version of Bush’s
faith-based initiative untenable. The move fol
lowed the July 17 defeat of an amendment by
Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., in the Committee on
Rules to address the problem and was the cham
ber’s last opportunity to fix the bill’s deficiencies.
“This was a hollow victory for the adminis
tration and the House leadership, because in
ignoring pleas to fix the bill’s shortcomings, they
have made passage in the Senate demonstrably
more difficult,” said Elizabeth Birch, HRC exec
utive director. “We are also struck by the incon
gruous position of ‘states rights’ conservatives,
who have long trumpeted local control, only to
run roughshod over state and local civil rights
laws in order to ram through this discriminatory
initiative.’ ’ i n
I mmediate O utcry
R
eaction to the Post article was swift and
severe:
i i r I 'hese secret, and possibly illegal, meetings are
1 an outrage and demonstrate a contem pt for
the rule o f law and for the rights o f the most vul
nerable Americans. W e need to know who was in
on these meetings, what had been promised, who
authorized the meetings and why the public was not
notified that the right to live free from discrimina
tion was being brokered away in a back room.”
U .S . Rep. Jerrold Nadler
D -N .Y .
« r i p his proposed arrangement would create a
JL kind o f civil rights-ffee zone in w hich reli
gious organizations that receive federal money
would be able to flout laws passed by state and local
governments to protect their citizens from work
place discrimination. It is a shockingly hypocritical
agreement, especially coming from an administra
tion that claims to be committed to the protection
of state and local rights.”
Ralph G . N eas
People for the American Way
« r i p he adm inistration’s theory, unsupported by
X any hard evidence, is that religious groups
do a better job than secular organizations or gov
ernm ent at providing social services and [that]
rules against discrim ination and proselytizing
need to be lifted to encourage religious groups to
take over the job.”
Michael Adams
Lambda Legal D efense and Education Fund
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