President Biden Signs So-Called “Respect for Marriage” Act Into Law

On Tuesday President Biden signed the so-called federal “Respect for Marriage” Act into law.

The law does more than simply recognize same-sex marriage.

It puts faith-based adoption and foster care agencies who do not believe in same-sex marriage at greater risk.

The law also creates a private right of action that will have a chilling effect on the free exercise of religion nationwide.

This is a bad law that activists will weaponize against people of faith who believe marriage is supposed to be the union of one man and one woman.

Kroger Settles Religious Discrimination Case With Former Employees in Conway, Promises to Adopt New Policy

Earlier this fall Kroger agreed to pay $180,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit with two former employees in Conway.

As part of the settlement, Kroger agreed to create a religious accommodation policy and provide better religious discrimination training to store managers.

In September of 2020 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against a Kroger store in Conway after two employees allegedly were fired for declining to wear rainbow-colored aprons at work.

According to the lawsuit, the employees believed the rainbow emblem was meant to endorse LGBTQ values and lifestyles, and felt that wearing it would violate their religious beliefs.

It may have taken two years, but it’s good to see a victory for religious freedom in this situation.

You can read the federal EEOC statement about the lawsuit here.

Photo Credit: Virginia Retail from Virginia, USA, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Trial Continues Over Arkansas’ SAFE Act

The federal lawsuit over Arkansas’ Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act is continuing this week.

The SAFE Act is an excellent law that protects children from sex-reassignment procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones.

The Arkansas Legislature passed the SAFE Act in 2021, but last year U.S. District Judge James Moody issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the state from enforcing the SAFE Act while a lawsuit over its constitutionality plays out in court.

The Arkansas Attorney General’s office appealed that decision to the Eighth Circuit. In August a three-judge panel from the Eighth Circuit ruled that the law should remain blocked while the lawsuit progresses in Judge Moody’s court.

Researchers do not know the long term effects that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones have on kids.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has never approved puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the purpose of gender transition.

Doctors are giving these hormones to kids off-label, in a manner the FDA never intended.

In July the U.S. Food and Drug Administration added a warning label to puberty blockers after biological girls developed symptoms of tumor-like masses in the brain.

The U.K.’s National Health Services recently closed its Tavistock gender clinic that gave puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children for many years.

The facility today faces the possibility of lawsuits from upwards of 1,000 families whose children were subjected to sex-reassignment despite an obvious lack of scientific evidence in favor of the procedures and inadequate mental health screenings for children with gender dysphoria.

A gender-identity clinic in Scotland faces similar legal troubles from former patients who say they were rushed into sex-change procedures.

Despite mounting evidence that sex-change hormones and procedures are not appropriate for children, the ACLU and others have asked the federal courts to strike down Arkansas’ SAFE Act.

Several business interests and the Biden-Harris Administration also have joined the fight against Arkansas’ SAFE Act.

Testimony in the trial over the SAFE Act has underscored several key points about gender dysphoria, including:

  • The science surrounding gender identity remain in flux.
  • The demographics of transgender youth is changing in ways that scientists do not yet understand.
  • Randomized clinical trials do not support the adolescent gender transition processes that many doctors in America use.

    Arkansas’ SAFE Act is a good law that protects children. We believe our courts will recognize that fact and uphold this good law as constitutional.

    Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.