Faith Groups Seek Exemption From White House Gay-Bias Order

A group of faith leaders, including some allies of President Obama, are calling for religious nonprofits to be excluded from a planned executive order that would bar the government from contracting with organizations that discriminate against gays and lesbians, writes The New York Times.

The heads of several religious groups signed a July 1 letter to the president that was developed by Michael Wear, who formerly worked in the White House office of faith-based initiatives and directed faith outreach for Mr. Obama’s 2012 campaign. Signers included Rick Warren, the megachurch pastor who delivered the invocation at the president’s first inauguration, and the Rev. Larry Snyder, CEO of Catholic Charities U.S.A.

Mr. Wear called the letter a request from “friends of the administration” that the bias order provide “robust” protection of nonprofits that maintain faith-based moral standards in hiring. It was sent the day after the Supreme Court ruled in the Hobby Lobby case that family-run businesses could, on religious grounds, refuse to provide employees insurance coverage for contraception.

Conservative religious leaders were already demanding that the executive order exclude faith-affiliated hospitals, colleges, and charities, while gay-rights advocates have called on the White House to resist pressure for a religious exemption.

Several prominent gay-rights groups said Tuesday that they were withdrawing support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act—a broader measure to bolster workplace rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people that is now beforeCongress—because it exempts faith groups, The Washington Post reports. Activists said that in the wake of the Hobby Lobby ruling that exclusion could be extended to private firms.