Evangelical group calls for LGBT people to be removed from anti-lynching bill – By John Bowden (thehill.com) / Jan 9 2019
An evangelical nonprofit is asking lawmakers to remove language from a federal anti-lynching bill that protects Americans on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity before the legislation becomes law.
NBC News reported Wednesday that the nonprofit group, Liberty Counsel, which is designated as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is lobbying members of the House to remove language referring to “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in the bill, which passed the Senate unanimously last month.
“The old saying is once that camel gets the nose in the tent, you can’t stop them from coming the rest of the way in,” Mat Staver, the group’s chairman, told conservative news outlet, OneNewsNow, according to NBC.
“This is a way to slip it in under a so-called anti-lynching bill, and to then to sort of circle the wagon and then go for the [jugular] at some time in the future,” he reportedly added.
Liberty Counsel did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
The bill, introduced by Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), makes lynching punishable as a hate crime. Thirty-five other senators formally co-sponsored the bill, which was introduced in July and cleared the Judiciary Committee unanimously in October. It passed the full Senate by voice vote.
