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RNC Lawmakers Approve Religious Freedom Bill That Would Legalize Anti-Gay Discrimination

Co-signers include GOP presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Lindsey Graham.

A new bill approved by the Republican National Committee aims to enable anti-gay businesses and government employees from performing duties that allegedly conflict with their religious beliefs.

If passed, the bill, called the First Amendment Defense Act, would effectively shield anti-gay bakers, county clerks and more who cite their religion in declining services to LGBT people based on their sexual or gender identity.

Some LGBT advocates fear the FADA, like similar bills that were rejected and/or overturned in Indiana and Arkansas earlier this year, could "legalize discrimination" but on a national level.

Related: Candace Cameron Bure: Freedom To Discriminate Is What “Makes America Wonderful”

Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador, one of two GOP lawmakers who introduced the bill, disagrees. He, like other conservatives before him, invokes his First Amendment right in claiming anti-gay discrimination should be legalized under federal law.

"Our bill ensures that the federal government does not penalize Americans for following their religious beliefs or moral convictions on traditional marriage," he said. "Our bill shields against federal intrusion without taking anything away from anyone. In a shifting landscape, it’s time that Congress proactively defend this sacred right."

Other conservative lawmakers who co-signed the bill include presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Lindsey Graham.

The Log Cabin Republicans executive director, Gregory T. Angelo, told The Advocate that media underreported the RNC's rejection of two similarly harmful bills earlier this month, one that urged sex education classes to cover "the harmful physical aspects" of homosexuality and another that urged states to fight the marriage equality mandate.

"Clearly folks on the left are trying to diminish the bold stand against antigay bigotry the RNC took at its most recent meeting," he said of the current push against the FADA.

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