Tuesday, March 26, 2013

NEWS: State House overrides Governor's veto of Religious Freedom Act


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 26, 2013

LEXINGTON, KY--The Family Foundation tonight said that the vote to override Gov. Steve Beshear's veto of the Religious Freedom Act by the Kentucky House of Representatives was not only a victory for religious freedom in the state, but "a referendum on the fraudulent claims of the ACLU and the Fairness Alliance. The least we should expect about a debate as important as this one is that a bill be accurately portrayed."

"First we were told that if we believed in traditional marriage we were bigots. Now there are people saying that it is bigoted to believe in religious freedom. The list of things religious people are told are unacceptable seems to grow longer by the day."

Cothran said that opponents repeatedly misrepresented the nature of the bill. "The ACLU and the Fairness Alliance, along with a compliant liberal media, distorted this bill beyond recognition. The magnitude of this vote should send a message to these groups that this kind of deception is not appreciated by the majority of the state's elected lawmakers."

Cothran said the bill merely reinstituted the long-standing standard of religious protection the Kentucky Supreme Court abandoned in October of last year. Despite being well aware of this, he said, these groups decided to portray as some kind of threat to civil rights. Despite being unable to cite a single instance of any civil right being threatened during the many years the standard this bill reimposes was in effect, he said, they were able to convince a handful of lawmakers that the bill was a dangerous bill.

"We hope the opponents of HB 279 will do a gut check and realize that lies and distortions don't always work."
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