Most Americans don’t want laws that allow anti-LGBT discrimination

A majority of Americans oppose denying services to LGBT individuals in the name of religion, according to a new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute. Sixty-one percent of respondents were against giving faith-based groups or private individuals the religious exemption to, say, refuse to cater a lesbian wedding, or to refuse to sign the marriage certificates of same-sex couples.

That’s not great news for conservatives in the wake of the leak of an anti-LGBT executive order “scuttled” by the White House. Politico reported that Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, and her husband, Trump advisor Jared Kushner, led the charge against a four-page document that would have granted broad allowances to religious groups, federal agencies and virtually anyone who wishes to discriminate against the LGBT community. The couple also pushed President Trump to release a statement promising that the Oval Office was “determined to protect the rights of all Americans.”

Vice President Mike Pence subsequently appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” a political news show hosted by George Stephanopoulos, to defend his boss’ LGBT record.

“I think throughout the campaign, President Trump made it clear that discrimination would have no place in our administration,” said Pence, who passed a law as the governor of Indiana identical to the EO Trump tabled. “I mean, he was the very first Republican nominee to mention the LGBTQ community at our Republican National Convention and was applauded for it. And I was there applauding with him. I think the generosity of his spirit, recognizing that in the patriot’s heart, there’s no room for prejudice is part of who this president is.”

Read more at: Salon.com