Tony Perkins, Mat Staver Praise Trump's Rollback Of Protections For Transgender Workers
- By
- Carlos Santoscoy
- | October 10, 2017
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.”