FILE - The Church Office Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, July 18, 2008. (Tom Smart, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released a statement opposing the Equality Act that is before the House of Representatives that could be voted on as early as this week.
The church says that while they continue to support enacting and strengthening laws that ensure LGBT rights to fair access in areas like housing, employment, and appropriate public accommodations, the Equality Act as it now stands is not balanced and does not adequately protect religious liberty.
“While providing extremely broad protections for LGBT rights,” the statement says, “the Equality Act provides no protections for religious freedom.
“It would instead repeal long-standing religious rights under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, threaten religious employment standards, devastate religious education, defund numerous religious charities and impose secular standards on religious activities and properties.
“The Church joins other religious organizations that also strongly oppose the Equality Act as unbalanced, fundamentally unfair and a path to further conflict.”
You can read the full statement from the Church here.