1,300 Faith Leaders Denounce Trump’s Rumored Anti-LGBTQ Executive Order

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 2, 2017

CONTACT

Michelle Nealy, mnealy@faithinpubliclife.org, (202) 735-7123

Elliot Levy, elliot.levy@berlinrosen.com, (202) 800-7409

1,300 Faith Leaders Denounce Trump’s Rumored Anti-LGBTQ Executive Order

WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 1,300 faith leaders stand in firm resistance to President Trump’s rumored Executive Order that would allow discrimination against LGBTQ and other communities, in the false name of religious freedom.

“The religious freedom upon which our nation was founded has allowed our country’s diverse religious landscape to flourish,” said clergy in a national letter published as a full-page advertisement in Politico. “The draft executive order flies in the face of that rich diversity by enshrining one religious perspective–on marriage, gender identity, health care, and the role of houses of worship in partisan politics–into law, above all others.”

Prominent signers include: Rev. Jennifer Butler, CEO of Faith in Public Life; Rabbi Jason Kimelman-Block, Director of Bend the Arc Jewish Action, Rev. Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite, Professor of Theology at Chicago Theological Seminary; and Rev.  R.L. Gundy, pastor of Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida.

Faith leaders know that this executive order would impact thousands of families, parishes and faith communities. They write, “We are appalled by the widespread discrimination that this draft order would unleash across all areas of life–including in some cases with taxpayer dollars–on our congregants, our neighbors, our families, so many Americans we may never personally know, and indeed even many of us personally.”

To read the full statement and view a complete of signers, click here.

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