* It would become a criminal offense for Ohio business and property owners to make decisions based on their religious beliefs regarding homosexual behaviors.
* The Ohio Civil Rights Commission would be authorized to work with the Department of Education to insure that all public school students in Ohio are taught that belief in the Biblical truth regarding homosexuality and other distorted sexual behaviors is equivalent to prejudice and thus inherently wrong. Students who have been taught by their parents that homosexual behaviors are contrary to their religious beliefs would have to remain silent or risk being punished, criticized and/or bullied. [Note: Sensitivity training of this nature does not recognize the critical difference between respect for all persons and affirmation of their beliefs and lifestyles.]
* Civil Rights laws in Ohio would be seriously weakened. Civil rights laws were enacted to provide needed protection for classes that truly have experienced unjust discrimination. In order to qualify as a protected class under civil rights law, our courts have consistently held that a class must meet three criteria. They (1) must exhibit an immutable, non-behavior-based characteristic such as race or skin color; (2) they must have experienced a history of discrimination resulting in class-wide economic deprivation; and (3) they must be politically powerless. The courts have insisted that all three criteria apply in order to prevent extension of these protections to special interest groups and to insure the effectiveness of such protections for the truly deserving. "Sexual orientation" and "gender identity," the classes that H.B. 176 would add, do not meet any of these criteria and their inclusion would undermine and trivialize Ohio Civil Rights law.
* Ohio state agencies, all local political subdivisions and any employer seeking to transact business with the state or its political subdivisions would be required to take affirmative action toward hiring persons in the new protected classes of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" - thereby discriminating against all persons who do not so identify themselves. This is blatant reverse discrimination!
Do we really need to become a culture of victims and special protected classes? Isn't this a way of promoting a different type of elitism and social strata, of which we in America do not believe in special rights for certain people? Contact your member of the General ASSembly today. Tell them HB 176 is a horrendous idea and is not about equality but special set asides.....
