Religious Privilege to Discriminate as Religious Freedom: From Charitable Choice to Faith Based Initiatives to RFRA and FADA

Authors

Marcia L. McCormick, Saint Louis University School of Law

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

Abstract

The movement for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Inter-sex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA) rights has had three main themes since the civil rights era: freedom from criminalization of relationships and harassment by police; protection from discrimination in employment, housing, public ac-commodations, and government services; and civil protections for familial re-lationships, like the right to marry.[1] Freedom from criminalization of inti-mate relationships was won in 2003, when the Supreme Court held that the federal constitution protected same-sex intimate conduct and that states could not make that conduct criminal,[2] and that decision accelerated the fight for civil protections for familial relationships. In May 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the LGBTQIA movement an important victory on that front, hold-ing that the constitution protected the rights of same-sex couples to marry.[3]

Recommended Citation

McCormick, Marcia L. Religious Privilege to Discriminate as Religious Freedom: From Charitable Choice to Faith Based Initiatives to RFRA and FADA. Washburn Law Journal, vol. 56 (2017).