Tony Perkins, president of the Family
Research Council (FRC), and Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel,
are among the social conservatives praising rollback of protections
for transgender workers.
On Friday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff
Sessions issued a memo to federal prosecutors in which he asserted
that a 1964 federal civil rights law does not protect transgender
employees from discrimination.
(Related: Jeff
Sessions: Transgender workers not protected by civil rights law.)
Former Attorney General Eric Holder had
reached the opposite conclusion.
Perkins praised the new policy in a
statement.
“This morning … another concrete
step was taken toward undoing the anti-faith policies of the Obama
administration,” Perkins said. “While the Obama administration
quarantined religious beliefs as if they are a plague – the Trump
administration is restoring our First Freedom to where it's belonged
since the founding of our country.”
During an appearance on Fox News,
Perkins called Friday “religious Armistice Day.”
Staver, who represented Rowan, Kentucky
County Clerk Kim Davis in her fight not to issue marriage licenses to
gay and lesbian couples, also had praise for the president.
“We commend President Trump for
instructing Attorney General Jeff Sessions to send a strong message
to the rest of America that religious freedom must be protected,”
he said in a statement. “The President has reversed the Obama-era
policies and committed to protecting and promoting the religious
freedom upon which this nation was founded. The Department of Justice
must now vigorously enforce all Americans’ civil right of free
exercise of religious liberty. This is an extremely positive step in
the right direction.”