The Equality Act: When the Oppressed Become the Oppressor

Allan Giberti
 
I’m sure my definition of equality is similar to what most Americans think of as equality. Everyone has the same civil rights; the laws apply to everyone and no one is treated differently. I’d be willing to bet that just about everyone is on board with that.

​What too many people fail to realize is that when you treat everyone the same, when everyone enjoys the same rights, not everyone is going to be happy and by that, I mean being equal means you have to all play by the same rules. No one gets an advantage; no one group’s particular ideology should trump another’s and that applies to everyone on either side of whatever the argument is.

Allowing the rights of certain groups to carry more weight than others is not equality. In fact, it is the exact opposite of equality. When one person’s rights outweigh another, no matter how you try to package it, it is inequality. While that may seem straightforward, the current issue at hand is that one person’s rights should not be politicized and then weaponized to remove someone else’s rights. Period. 

​That’s exactly what Cicilline’s Equality Act does. It gives license to the oppressed to become the oppressors and as a gay man, I find it shameful and embarrassing.

So why are so many liberals and Democrats, the champions of equality, touting H.R. 5: The Equality Act? Even Democrat Presidential nominee, Joe Biden has promised to make the Equality Act his first piece of legislation, even on his campaign page he promises to pass it within his first 100 days when he is President. Discrimination and oppression in the guise of equality.

The liberals and Democrats cheer. Why? Has anyone read anything other than the title of this thing? What, other than how the Democrats, liberal media or Hollywood elites peddle it, do you actually know about this piece of progressive Democrat drivel?

On March 13, 2019, Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) introduced H.R. 5: The Equality Act into the House of Representatives. Only the Democrats could write something so oppressive and divisive in the name of social justice and push it as equality. Rep. Cicilline and Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote in an op-ed for the Advocate,

“The Equality Act is simple. It says, unequivocally, that LGBTQ Americans deserve the full protections guaranteed by the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. To dismantle the discrimination undermining our democracy, we must ensure that all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, are treated equally under the law — not just in the workplace, but in education, housing, credit, jury service and public accommodations as well.”

It’s usually at this point I’m called self-loathing or a traitor. What the legislation does is add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, granting nondiscrimination protections under federal law. It sounds like a liberal’s dream but in reality, it legalizes discrimination, erases women, obliterates the definition of homosexuality and threatens the legal rights won by gay community.

The definition of sex does not mean gender identity. Officials need to define “sex” because federal laws bar discrimination based on sex. Yet, proponents of the Equality Act claim that a person’s gender is fluid and discrimination from religious institutions and organizations is unfair and oppressive.

By now, most people have heard of Jack Phillips, of Masterpiece Cake Shop in Colorado, who was accused of discriminating against a gay couple when he declined to decorate a cake for their wedding. The case went all the way up to the Supreme Court which ruled in Mr. Phillip’s favor. Since that ruling, Mr. Phillips has been blatantly harassed and finally sued by other members of the LGBT community when he declined to make a cake celebrating a gender transition.

If you think Mr. Phillips should have been forced to go against his beliefs, then do you think a gay owned and operated bakery should also be forced to make cupcakes that say “God Hates Fags” because someone finds it funny? It’s a legitimate question because once you remove one person’s rights, you remove everyone’s. That’s how it works.

The Equality Act would shred the 1st Amendment and force Americans to police and limit their speech. Public and private employers can expect lawsuits and employees will be punished if they fail to obey despite any scientific or personal objections. Prepare to be chastised and cast out for any views you have about biological sex.

Supporters claim that without the Equality Act transgender people can be refused medical care. The truth is that the Equality Act will force hospitals and insurers providers to pay for gender affirming surgeries and therapies. This act would force professionals to act against any moral objections or medical judgment. A Catholic hospital in Washington settled out of court when the ACLU sued them for refusing to perform a double mastectomy on a sixteen-year-old girl. 

Naturally you’d wonder what the parents say is in all of this, but under the Equality Act objections from parents who do not push for gender transition would be irrelevant but it’s even happening now without federal legislation. Parents in Ohio lost custody of their seventeen-year-old daughter because they refused to put her on testosterone supplements. Parents would no longer have the right to make decisions about their children’s medical treatment.

In fact, parents would also lose any rights about what their child is taught including gender being fluid and the normalization of transitioning genders. Are you ok with ideological “education” in schools? I’m not. I would rather educate my children on issues such as this, it is not something the government should be doing. If you don’t think this can happen, take a look at the American Journal of Bioethics article arguing that the state should overrule the parents of gender dysphoric children who do not consent to giving them puberty-blocking drugs. The state will determine what is good for your child.

Many of the significant gains made for women’s rights would be lost.

The Equality Act will effectively erase women by eliminating sex-specific facilities and other female-only spaces such as bathrooms, locker rooms, prisons, juvenile detention centers, rehab facilities and shelters all to members of the opposite sex. Female rape survivors will be forced to contend with biological males in shelters and biological females will no longer have a right to ask for female medical staff.

In Anchorage, Alaska, a biological male twice tried to gain access to the city’s Downtown Hope Center, a shelter for homeless, abused, and trafficked women and ultimately sued the center for alleged “gender identity discrimination.”

Men will dominate women’s sports. Girls will lose sports scholarships. Do you remember when Obama extended the benefits of title IX to cover bathrooms, changing rooms, school bathrooms? Well, the reason President Trump reversed it because women would lose what they had fought for. The purpose of Title IX, which was meant to ensure that women would have the same opportunities as men including in sports, would no longer protect women.

The Democrat’s, the party of “science”, choice to abandon biology when it comes to sex and gender ultimately invalidates the definition of homosexuality and challenges the very basic foundation of gay rights. If gender is fluid and there really is no male or female, then the decades of fighting for equal rights has been for nothing. This bill jeopardizes the very legal basis of gay rights.

This bill is going to force you to change your own personal beliefs and views in many more ways than what I described here. Of course, I want equality for everybody, but not at the expense of others. You cannot grant rights to one group by taking them away from another. You cannot make the oppressed the oppressor and call it equality.

If the Democrats can force someone to go against their conscience and go against their convictions they can and will do it to you.

Allan Giberti is the host of RI Red Radio on 990WBOB.com. You can listen to Allan live on Mondays and Tuesdays at 7pm Eastern.

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