But the Religious Right wants far more
than the “right to live their own lives in their faith, and to run their
own institutions.” They want to “manage” the lives of others
whom, for religious reasons, they believe are sinners. I agree with Alan and Marty on this one. From: Douglas Laycock
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] I do not mean to include any right to
harass and intimidate. I do mean to include the right to live their own
lives in their faith, and to run their own institutions, which necessarily
includes the right to exclude from those institutions persons who do not accept
their faith or the obligations that faith imposes. Douglas Laycock University of 512-232-1341 (phone) 512-471-6988 (fax) From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Newsom Michael If by “religious liberty
interests” you mean the right to exclude, and perhaps even to harass and
intimidate, then I suppose that you have responded fairly to my query. If
one were to define “religious liberty interests” differently, then
your example does not respond to my query. From: Douglas Laycock
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Douglas Laycock From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Newsom Michael Could you give some examples of gay rights
proponents who ignore religious liberty interests? Doug Laycock's Answer: The gay
rights groups organized and led the charge that killed the Religious Liberty
Protection Act. They did it by insisting on a categorical exception
for all civil rights cases, refusing to rely on the case law that most civil
rights claims present compelling interests or their own view that all
civil rights claims present compelling interests. "All civil rights claims" would
include challenges to the male-only priesthood. It would include claims
of religious discrimination in awarding membership or leadership positions in churches
and other religions organizations. In At the state and local level, gay rights
groups insist on no religious exemption to gay rights laws or, if they can't
prevail on that, the narrowest possible definition of religious organizations
entitled to exemption. I assume it was these recurring political
conflicts, in which gay rights groups simply refuse to recognize any competing
interest on the other side of the table, that Alan Brownstein was referring to,
and not the occasional acts of disruptive protest. Of course many of the conservative
religious groups are equally intractable with respect to gay rights
organizations. In the particular case of RLPA, most of them were at
all time willing to concede the compelling-interest exception, fully
understanding that courts were likely to find a compelling interest in most
civil rights claims. Douglas Laycock University of 512-232-1341 512-471-6988 (fax) |
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