If passed by Congress, the Equality Act would amend and expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas gave a passionate speech in favor of the bill during a U.S. House of Representatives session on Thursday, noting some of the ways in which religion was deceptively used to justify segregation and racist Jim Crow laws in the past.
The African-American congressman (not be confused with R&B/gospel singer, the Rev. Al Green) told members of the House, “You used God to enslave my foreparents. You used God to segregate me in schools. You used God to put me in the back of the bus. Have you no shame?”
“You used god to segregate me in schools. You used god to put me in the back of the bus…” pic.twitter.com/dBBP14bter
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 25, 2021
President Joe Biden has been an outspoken supporter of the Equality Act, but its Republican opponents have claimed that it would discriminate against religion if passed. Green alluded to the fact that the same type of argument was used in defense of segregationist laws during the 1950s and 1960s. Continue reading.