Kansas Episcopal bishops speak out against doomed anti-LGBT bill

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/15/kansas-episcopal-bishops-speak-out-against-doomed-anti-lgbt-bill/



Kansas Episcopal bishops speak out against doomed anti-LGBT bill
By David Ferguson
Saturday, February 15, 2014 14:03 EST

Episcopal bishops spoke out against a controversial Kansas Republican bill proposing to legalize anti-LGBT discrimination on Friday. According to Huffington Post, the two clergy members spoke out against the bill in a joint letter that they sent to all members of the Kansas state legislature.

Republicans in the Kansas House passed House Bill 2453 on Wednesday, which some call a “Turn Away the Gays” bill. Under it, businesses will be able to deny services to LGBT people without repercussions as long as they claimed that the discrimination was based in “sincerely held religious beliefs.” The bill would also deny same-sex families access to adoption services, counseling and eligibility for the foster system.

The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe and the Right Reverend Michael P. Milliken wrote to lawmakers that the Republicans’ “political agenda is encroaching upon fundamental principles that Christians, and people of all faiths, hold dear: compassion for the poor, safety for all people and equality for everyone.”

Conservatives justify these types of anti-LGBT bills on the grounds of “religious freedom” for people of faith, but the two bishops wrote that this is a ruse for codifying bigotry into law.