Equality Federation stands in strong opposition to the “First Amendment Defense Act,” known as FADA and has signed a coalition letter demanding the cancellation of the July 12th hearing for the legislation.

July 12 will mark the one-month anniversary of this tragedy. In the month since, Congress has not held a single hearing on the needs of the victims, their families, and survivors, or on ways to better protect the LGBT community from bias-motivated violence or discrimination. We are deeply disappointed to learn that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform plans to hold a hearing on a discriminatory, anti-LGBT bill known as the “First Amendment Defense Act” (H.R. 2802) on the one-month anniversary of this tragedy. We write to urge you to cancel this hearing.

Rather than focusing on legislation to protect LGBT people and others in America from harm, FADA would permit unprecedented taxpayer-funded discrimination against LGBT people. Among the legislation’s many harms, it could even allow any privately owned business to refuse to let a gay or lesbian employee take time off to care for their sick spouse, in violation of family and medical leave laws – a particularly appalling aspect given the many families currently caring for those who were injured in the Orlando shooting. A proposal like this only serves to harm a vulnerable community.

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