A bill which seeks to protect opponents
of marriage equality has cleared a major hurdle in Virginia.
According to CBS
affiliate WTKR, the General Laws Committee last week approved
House Bill 2025. The bill, proposed by Republican Delegate Nicholas
Freitas, now heads to the full House of Delegates.
Freitas' bill protects individuals who
refuse to participate in a marriage ceremony based on their
“religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be
recognized as the union of one man and one woman” from criminal or
civil liability. The bill's definition of a “person” includes an
“organization supervised or controlled by or operated in connection
with a religious organization.”
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, criticized the committee's
move.
“The right to practice one’s own
religion is already firmly protected in the U.S. Constitution,”
said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “In truth, this legislation
has nothing to do with religious freedom and everything to do with
taxpayer-funded discrimination against LGBTQ people. Virginia
lawmakers should look closely at the fallout in North Carolina and
the state’s deeply discriminatory HB2 law before plowing down a
similarly destructive path. The Virginia House of Delegates must
abandon this reckless legislation.”
Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe
vetoed a similar bill last year.