My Open Letter to @SenToomey: There Is No Religious Right To Discriminate.

Senator Toomey:

I am a life-long Pennsylvanian, I am gay, and I worry more every day that my hard-won rights will be taken away. Nominating Judge Gorsuch to our highest court is particularly troubling given his role in the Hobby Lobby case. I oppose his nomination and urge you to do the same.

Gorsuch’s corporatist view that businesses can have strongly-held religious convictions is a further eroding of my rights as an individual. This kind of thinking has turned campaign finance into the national disgrace of Citizens United: Money is NOT speech. Corporations are NOT people. Gorsuch will continue to steal rights from citizens and give them to corporations.

Show me that you understand that there is no religious right to discriminate. The First Amendment guarantees me freedom from other people’s religions, and Title II of the Civil Rights Act guarantees businesses that reap the benefits of government cannot discriminate. Now that most Americans support equal rights for LGBTQ citizens, these “religious freedom” laws are thinly-veiled attacks that try to justify homophobia as religious victimization.

Gorsuch does not understand this, and he does not understand how over-broad attempts to enshrine discrimination into law backfire. A baker can just as easily refuse to serve an interracial couple as a gay couple. So could a doctor or a pharmacy–with much more dire consequences.

Please schedule a town hall in Philadelphia as soon as possible so we can begin a direct dialog. Philadelphians make up 12% of Pennsylvania’s population. Prove that you represent all Pennsylvanians by coming here and talking to us. I look forward to an email, a written response, or your first Philadelphia town hall at your earliest convenience.

A Concerned Constituent