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CHARLESTON, Feb. 28 (AP) — West Virginia’s overwhelmingly Republican House of Representatives passed a bill Monday that would apply to courts when people challenge government regulations they say interfere with their constitutional right to religious freedom .
The bill passed after several Democrats expressed concern that the proposal could be used as a tool to discriminate against LGBTQ people and other marginalized groups. Democrat Joy Garcia also asked whether the proposed law could be used to overturn West Virginia’s vaccine requirement, one of the strictest in the nation.
Republican Del. Todd Kirby, one of the bill’s cosponsors, said those issues would be for the courts to decide — the bill provides only a judicial test of legal interpretation.
The Christian lawmaker offered some examples of what he sees as government violations of residents’ religious rights. An example is vaccination requirements. The other is the public school curriculum.
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Kirby said teachers are “forced to push a left-wing agenda, the government’s agenda, in the war on traditional families, like promoting transgenderism and homosexuality in our classrooms.”
“These policies were sold to the American public,” he said.
The bill states that the government will not be able to “substantially afford” someone’s constitutional right to religious freedom unless it is “essential to advance a compelling government interest under the circumstances.”
If the government can prove to the courts that there is a “compelling interest” in restricting that right, government officials must show that religious freedom is being violated in the “least restrictive manner.”
At least 23 other states have religious freedom restoration bills similar to West Virginia’s proposal. The laws were modeled on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1993, which allowed federal regulations that interfere with religious beliefs to be challenged.
Eli Baumwell, advocacy director and interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, said the 1993 federal law was designed to protect people, especially religious minorities, from laws that affect their ability to practice their personal beliefs . Similar laws passed by states since then have been applied in vastly different ways, he said.
“Unfortunately, people took a good idea and turned it into a sword,” said Baumwell, whose group opposes the bill. “Today’s RFRA is driven by organization and ideology and is not concerned with individual religious observance. They are focused on circumventing laws that require fair and equal treatment.”
A similar bill in West Virginia in 2016 failed after lawmakers expressed concerns about how it would affect LGBTQ residents. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael wiped away tears as he spoke on the Senate floor in support of an amendment proposed by Democrats that would prohibit legislation from being used to discriminate against LGBTQ people.
In 2016, the West Virginia House of Representatives had 64 Republicans and 36 Democrats. By 2023, the Republican majority has expanded to 88 seats, including 12 Democrats.
Republican lawmakers on Monday rejected a Democratic amendment similar to one passed in 2016 with little discussion before sending this year’s bill to the Senate. It will protect non-discrimination laws or regulations that protect LGBTQ people and residents.
Judiciary Vice Chairman Tom Fast, a Republican, said no changes to the bill were necessary. He said the bill “does not determine who the winners and losers are, nor does it create license to discriminate.”
Democrat Deljoy Garcia isn’t buying it.
“If that’s actually true, that doesn’t hurt the bill,” he said of the Democrats’ amendment.
Democrats later proposed a different addition to the bill, requiring businesses to put a sign on their doors notifying the public if they refuse to serve certain groups of people because of their religious beliefs. The amendment states that any business that fails to display a sign and refuses to serve someone on religious grounds will face a fine of up to $200.
“I think it’s important for the public to know exactly who the bigots are,” said Democrat Mike Pushkin.
The amendment was rejected after Kirby likened the proposal to Nazi Germany’s anti-Semitic laws requiring people to identify themselves as Jewish. He called the amendment “frustrating” and called it a “ruse” that would lead to “violence” and “attacks”.
Pushkin, one of the few Jewish lawmakers in the House of Representatives, said he was “displeased” by the comparison.
“It’s absolutely irrelevant to this,” he said. “It’s just saying that people who are going to use this bill to incite hatred, people who are going to use this bill to deny service, should let people know ahead of time.”
Democrat Del. Ric Griffith, a Christian, voted against the bill after expressing concerns that it was being used to lower childhood vaccination requirements. All 50 states have legislation requiring certain vaccinations for students, but West Virginia is one of the few states that does not allow non-medical exemptions.
“I sometimes think that when we’re so sure about the merits of our own opinions, we often don’t realize it’s discrimination against other people,” he said.
The bill also states that the proposed law cannot be used to allow abortions, which West Virginia lawmakers banned last year. The provision was included as abortion rights groups are challenging some state abortion bans on the grounds that the bans – backed by certain religious principles – violate the religious rights of people of different faiths. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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