Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
spoke on the House floor in opposition to Democrats’ H.R. 5, the so-called
Equality Act, which destroys religious freedom protections for educational institutions and employers.
Republican Leader Foxx’s remarks as delivered:
"Government intervention often causes more harm than good. I’ve spent my time in Congress working to protect individual freedoms from unnecessary bureaucratic burdens. I recognize that a strong family is vital to our nation’s progress and prosperity, which is why I’ve worked to advance legislation that allows families to flourish and protects life at all stages. It is unconscionable that in America, where we fight for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we tolerate this systemic extermination of an entire generation. The right to life demands that we protect our nation’s most vulnerable, including the unborn.
"Our First Amendment is a powerful instrument that has protected our most sacred freedoms for hundreds of years. Few other countries provide the same protections and freedoms that our First Amendment guarantees. We are 'the land of the free' because of it. Our individual liberties are the envy of people around the world and they are the cornerstone of the world’s oldest democracy.
"Yet today, these essential rights are under attack.
"H.R. 5 is the latest example of Democrats’ misleading and partisan manner of legislating.
"As a former educator and the Republican Leader of the Education and Labor Committee, I can tell you that the bill may have 'equality' in the title, but it certainly does not serve ALL Americans.
"This legislation has a clever name and an allegedly noble purpose but it is a vehicle for serious, harmful consequences.
"The Equality Act would empower the government to interfere in how regular Americans think, speak, and act. Specifically, it would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to make sexual orientation and gender identity protected classes. According to the National Review, this extreme legislation 'redefines sex to include gender identity, undermines religious freedom, gives males who identify as females the right to women’s spaces, and sets a dangerous political precedent for the medicalization of gender-confused youth.'
"Under H.R. 5, our nation’s K-12 schools would be forced to treat gender as being fluid, subjective, and not tied to biological reality.
"The bill would undermine Title IX protections for girls by outlawing sex-based athletic competitions.
"Even more troubling is the bill’s meticulous and intentional destruction of religious freedom protections.
"Religiously affiliated colleges and universities that maintain student codes of conduct, hiring practices, or housing rules reflecting sincerely held beliefs about marriage and sexuality risk losing federal funding under the Equality Act, as such policies would be deemed discriminatory.
"Beloved secular private colleges that maintain single sex admissions policies, like Smith College and Morehouse College, would be forced to change their policies or forego federal funding.
"In the state of Virginia, we’ve already seen the displeasure amongst parents regarding such policy implementation. In an opinion piece published by the Washington Post in 2019, a former middle and high school teacher whose children attend Arlington Public Schools said, 'It would erode parents’ rights over their children’s education, corrode Title IX protections for girls and risk convincing healthy, normally developing boys and girls that their bodies are wrong and must be altered with hormones and be vandalized by surgical instruments.'
"The bill also lacks any pro-life protections, which is why I am submitting my amendment that will protect religiously affiliated groups and individuals from being forced to perform abortions.
"This bill is a brazen attempt to replace longstanding constitutional rights with the identity politics of the moment.
"We’ve entered treacherous waters by considering legislation that stifles proven, bipartisan solutions and, more seriously, our Bill of Rights. It’s outrageous that Democrats would advertise these proposals as guaranteeing fundamental civil and legal rights.
"Mr. Speaker, as elected Representatives, we all strive for equality before the law, but H.R. 5 is another classic example of Democrats passing a bill now and figuring out what it means later.
"This is no way to legislate. I yield back."
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