In just days, in just days you vote on the Equality Act, which poses one of the most severe threats to our First Amendment freedoms of speech, association, and religion to ever be considered in Washington. I wish to make it absolutely clear that not only is this not “equality,” but it’s downright dangerous. Our nation was founded upon the bedrock principal that all of us are created equal. However, the Equality Act is a cheap counterfeit of our fundamental rights, and every lawmaker needs to know that you adamantly oppose this bill which will wreak havoc on our society and result in a complete cultural revolution. The “Equality Act” would alter the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include two additional protected classes: sexual orientation and gender identity. Although titled the “Equality Act,” the policies contained within the Equality Act would create greater inequality, hurting women and individuals of faith—ironically, two out of the five groups that the Civil Rights Act was created to protect. This bill would limit the free exercise of religion, attacking individuals, churches, charities, and businesses by forcing them to give up traditional norms regarding gender and marriage and recognize all forms of sexual orientation. The fundamental concept of male and female will be erased throughout the most basic parts of American life. We are already seeing this play out. What’s worse, the Equality Act does not contain any religious exemptions. The language found in the bill is so egregious it expressly prohibits exemptions on the grounds of conscience or religious beliefs. Christians charged with violating the Equality Act, will not be allowed to raise the defense that their religious beliefs prohibit the conduct or speech that is demanded of them. Clearly, the so-called “Equality Act” creates inequality for so many, and these are the reasons you should oppose it: • This legislation does not create equality. Equality cannot be created for one group by taking rights away from another. This bill targets people of religious faith, erodes protections for women, and would take children away from parents who refuse radical hormone therapies. • The Equality Act endangers women and girls. The Equality Act would force schools (both public and private), churches, hospitals, businesses, and other institutions to recognize an individual’s “chosen gender” instead of their “biological sex.” Women and girls would be required to share bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, women’s shelters, and sleeping facilities with biological males who choose to identify as female. These are places where women should feel safe and secure, and many women do not feel safe and secure when sharing these facilities with biological men. • The Equality Act would allow biological males who identify as female to compete in and likely dominate women’s sports. Not only does this undercut the sport, but it hurts women who depend on college sports and scholarships to obtain educational and career aspirations. • Parents’ would lose the right to decide the best medical care for a child suffering with gender dysphoria and would be stripped of custody of their children if they disagree with the prevailing medical views. Medical professionals would be pressured to provide gender-affirming treatments like puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery or lose their jobs. These are irreversible decisions that have not been shown to help mental health while creating a litany of permanent physical health problems. Subjecting children to such radical procedures is even more dubious when one considers that 80 to 95 percent of children with gender dysphoria will embrace their biological sex by adulthood. Already, courts have sided with transgender clinics against parents who refused radical hormone therapies for their children. • This legislation makes it harder for organizations and charities with faith-based values to operate and exist. This negatively impacts all underserved communities, including children, minorities, the unemployed, and the homeless. • The 100,000+ American children in need of adoption each year would be hurt by the Equality Act. Liberals are targeting faith-based adoption agencies for their refusal to place children in homes without both a mother and a father. In New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, faith-based adoption agencies have been forced to close rather than violate their sincerely held religious beliefs. In this instance, radical-liberal ideology is not only harming individuals of faith but the innocent children desperately in need of a loving home. • Employers and businesses would face more regulation and lawsuits. Businesses with 15 or more employees would be forced to provide medical insurance for “gender transitions”, use preferred pronouns or face litigation, and open any single-sex space to both sexes including bathrooms and locker rooms. • Free speech must be protected and preserved. The Equality Act would silence thought and debate on important issues facing our nation, such as gender, marriage, and faith. • The Equality Act provides legal support for a radical school curriculum, teaching sexual preferences and transgender theory to elementary and pre-K children. In states where this curriculum is currently being taught, it is integrated into all subjects, and parents cannot opt their children out. The same Civil Rights laws that our nation rightly invoked to bring about the end of racial discrimination and usher in the desegregation of public schools is being perversely altered to impose the political ideology of gender and behavior related to sex. Those who disagree will face the full power of the federal government. The Act has the potential to impact anything funded by federal money – schools, employment, and even sports. For this reason, I am joining the members of the North Carolina Values Coalition to ask that you reject the Equality Act.

Senator, I wish to make it absolutely clear the Equality Act, which poses one of the most severe threats to our First Amendment freedoms of speech, association, and religion to ever be considered in Washington, is not only not “equality,” but it’s downright dangerous. Our nation was founded upon the bedrock principal that all of us are created equal. However, the Equality Act is a cheap counterfeit of our fundamental rights, and every lawmaker needs to know that you adamantly oppose this bill which will wreak havoc on our society and result in a complete cultural revolution. The “Equality Act” would alter the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include two additional protected classes: sexual orientation and gender identity. Although titled the “Equality Act,” the policies contained within the Equality Act would create greater inequality, hurting women and individuals of faith—ironically, two out of the five groups that the Civil Rights Act was created to protect. This bill would limit the free exercise of religion, attacking individuals, churches, charities, and businesses by forcing them to give up traditional norms regarding gender and marriage and recognize all forms of sexual orientation. The fundamental concept of male and female will be erased throughout the most basic parts of American life. We are already seeing this play out. What’s worse, the Equality Act does not contain any religious exemptions. The language found in the bill is so egregious it expressly prohibits exemptions on the grounds of conscience or religious beliefs. Christians charged with violating the Equality Act, will not be allowed to raise the defense that their religious beliefs prohibit the conduct or speech that is demanded of them. Clearly, the so-called “Equality Act” creates inequality for so many, and these are the reasons you should oppose it: • This legislation does not create equality. Equality cannot be created for one group by taking rights away from another. This bill targets people of religious faith, erodes protections for women, and would take children away from parents who refuse radical hormone therapies. • The Equality Act endangers women and girls. The Equality Act would force schools (both public and private), churches, hospitals, businesses, and other institutions to recognize an individual’s “chosen gender” instead of their “biological sex.” Women and girls would be required to share bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, women’s shelters, and sleeping facilities with biological males who choose to identify as female. These are places where women should feel safe and secure, and many women do not feel safe and secure when sharing these facilities with biological men. • The Equality Act would allow biological males who identify as female to compete in and likely dominate women’s sports. Not only does this undercut the sport, but it hurts women who depend on college sports and scholarships to obtain educational and career aspirations. • Parents’ would lose the right to decide the best medical care for a child suffering with gender dysphoria and would be stripped of custody of their children if they disagree with the prevailing medical views. Medical professionals would be pressured to provide gender-affirming treatments like puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery or lose their jobs. These are irreversible decisions that have not been shown to help mental health while creating a litany of permanent physical health problems. Subjecting children to such radical procedures is even more dubious when one considers that 80 to 95 percent of children with gender dysphoria will embrace their biological sex by adulthood. Already, courts have sided with transgender clinics against parents who refused radical hormone therapies for their children. • This legislation makes it harder for organizations and charities with faith-based values to operate and exist. This negatively impacts all underserved communities, including children, minorities, the unemployed, and the homeless. • The 100,000+ American children in need of adoption each year would be hurt by the Equality Act. Liberals are targeting faith-based adoption agencies for their refusal to place children in homes without both a mother and a father. In New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, faith-based adoption agencies have been forced to close rather than violate their sincerely held religious beliefs. In this instance, radical-liberal ideology is not only harming individuals of faith, but the innocent children desperately in need of a loving home. • Employers and businesses would face more regulation and lawsuits. Businesses with 15 or more employees would be forced to provide medical insurance for “gender transitions”, use preferred pronouns or face litigation, and open any single-sex space to both sexes including bathrooms and locker rooms. • Free speech must be protected and preserved. The Equality Act would silence thought and debate on important issues facing our nation, such as gender, marriage, and faith. • The Equality Act provides legal support for a radical school curriculum, teaching sexual preferences and transgender theory to elementary and pre-K children. In states where this curriculum is currently being taught, it is integrated into all subjects, and parents cannot opt their children out. The same Civil Rights laws that our nation rightly invoked to bring about the end of racial discrimination and usher in the desegregation of public schools is being perversely altered to impose the political ideology of gender and behavior related to sex. Those who disagree will face the full power of the federal government. The Act has the potential to impact anything funded by federal money – schools, employment, and even sports. I am joining with the members of the North Carolina Values Coalition to ask that you reject the Equality Act.