The original U.S. Constitution can survive a bomb, a massive fire -- even a nuclear blast. But can it survive the House majority’s agenda? Based on their latest bill, no one is quite sure.
Some reporters at yesterday’s Equality Act press conference wondered if they were at a party. And in retrospect, maybe they were -- the Left’s farewell to the First Amendment. Religious liberty and free speech have had a good run, but as far as Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) concerned, they’ve stood in the Left’s way long enough. It’s time to get back to the business of controlling how every American thinks, speaks, and acts on issues of human sexuality. (How ironic that these same people accused Republicans of being fixated on America’s bedrooms!)
Most people were outraged by Barack Obama’s nationwide bathroom mandate, but that’s a conservative love pat compared to the boom Democrats are trying to lower on mainstream morality. If you can imagine a country without women’s sports, boys and girls restrooms, gender-specific pronouns, privacy, parental rights, workplace dress codes, business autonomy, Christian wedding vendors, and conscience protections -- you’ve got the Equality Act. It’s a world that hunts down and punishes anyone who thinks differently from the Left on gender or sexuality. And that includes schools, businesses, food banks, adoption agencies, homeless shelters, day cares, faith-based ministries, and government offices.
Picture walking into your child’s preschool for mandatory transgender story hour. Or think about your teenage daughter finishing gym class and being forced to shower and change with biological boys. Imagine being fired for calling someone “him.” Or maybe you’re standing over the counter of your new store, holding a subpoena because the “nonbinary” you interviewed wasn’t the best candidate for the job. These aren’t hypotheticals. This is the reality of a nation that embraces the phony “equality” liberals are selling.
But this about tolerance, the Left will say. The country is on board! Liberals will point, as so many did yesterday, to the polls. Look! Americans want to end discrimination, they argued. Well, of course they do. We all do. But how the country defines “discrimination” and how the Left does are two very different things. One man’s “intolerance” is another man’s religious freedom. The surveys Democrats trotted out yesterday didn’t ask people how they felt about transgender restrooms or slapping thousands of dollars of fines on bakers and florists. They didn’t poll small businesses to see if they could afford transgender health coverage or the money it will take to make their facilities gender-free. That’s because Democrats know, like we do, that once they start talking about the realities of the plan, they can’t win. See here, here, and here for proof.
Still, Big Business seems intent on carrying the water for a bill that would destroy the very climate that makes companies successful in the first place. Forty-four groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, sent a letter to the House and Senate urging members to “combat discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace… We look forward to working with Congress to promote and perfect the Equality Act.”
Of course, they say all of this without any acknowledgement of the crushing burden this law would force on every unwilling corner of corporate America. While they walk lock-step with the Left, do they realize they’re endorsing a proposal that would put new mandates for health care coverage on business? Mandates that could cost in the tens of millions for hormones, psychotherapy, and gender reassignment surgery? We’re talking about a price tag of $89,050 for female-to-male procedures and $110,450 for male-to-female procedures alone. Do they know the implications of these countless new regulations – or the overwhelming costs of compliance? What about the legal fees for settling workplace disputes, the higher taxes that will inevitably come from more government oversight, or the loss of competitiveness that comes with more regulation?
Big Business is desperately trying to have its cake -- and make you bake them too. They want the admiration of the Left and the favorable economic policies of conservatives. And while they embrace this miserable excuse for fairness that robs every Americans of their speech, privacy, and beliefs, where will they look to bail them out when their profits start tanking? To conservatives. But they can’t have it both ways. Big Business can either embrace the social structure that leads to growth, or they can sit and watch their revenues implode because they cared more about political correctness than the future of their corporations.
