Following the Democrats’ introduction of their proposed “Equality Act” that would grant the LGBTQ community even more special privileges while usurping Americans’ religious freedom, evangelical leader Dr. James Dobson warns that the legislation is a Trojan Horse that will ultimately keep Christians from living out their faith.

“Make no mistake – the so-called Equality Act is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt to finish off religious liberty in America once and for all, which ought to be plainly obvious based upon a cursory reading of the First Amendment,” the Founder of Focus on the Family alerted Americans, according to WND.

Consider yourself warned …

If the Equality Act is passed and enforced, Christians and other people of faith can expect to be silenced and essentially handcuffed when it comes to expressing and practicing their religious beliefs.

“The proposal – H.R. 5 and S. 788 – would provide special protections for the LGBT community throughout American society,” WND informed. “It would state that religious beliefs are not a defense in a dispute between gay rights and constitutionally protected religious rights.”

Keeping abreast of the Democrats’ LGBT agenda to usurp Christians’ religious rights, Dobson – the founder and president of Family Talk and the James Dobson Family Institute – was not surprised to witness the left’s latest move to push and promote the homosexual lifestyle nationwide.

“I wish I could say I was shocked to see the speed with which Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats have brought to committee the sweet sounding – but entirely treacherous – Equality Act,” Dobson expressed. “This decision demonstrates a frightening willingness by those on the left to advance a radical social agenda at a time when our nation already faces so many other divisive challenges. Simply put, by creating a protected class of citizens out of the LGBT community, this bill places Christians who believe in traditional marriage at grave legal and civil jeopardy.”

He explained how the problematic proposed laws deceitfully portray homosexual behavior as if it is an inherited trait – similar to one’s eye color and ethnicity.

“While no evangelical Christian would ever support hate or violence of any kind against an LGBT individual – or any other person for that matter – to modify the 1964 Civil Rights Act with this wrong-headed bill would not only be legally fraught, it would also put moral equivalence to the unprecedented, centuries-long struggle of countless millions of African Americans to gain freedom from slavery and the persistent, systematic oppression that followed,” the Christian leader argued. “[Whereas] the Civil Rights movement of the ‘60s was born out of deep faith and in congruence with God’s Word, this bill tramples both underfoot.”

It was argued that transforming the choice to engage in homosexual behavior into a so-called “civil rights” issue is absurd – something that Christian leaders of the past would frown upon.

“In fact, I believe that if Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, we would be standing together in opposition to the Equality Act,” Dobson continued. “We must refrain from the dangerous tendency to divide America into smaller and smaller sub-groups defined first and foremost by our grievances. We are one nation, under God, and we are already blessed with a Constitution and First Amendment that protects every American – without criminalizing our most sincerely held religious beliefs.”

More warnings

Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver also alerted Americans to the fact that the Equality Act has nothing to do with equality at all.

“This bill eviscerate[s] religious freedom and targets churches with an LGBT wrecking ball,” Staver warned.

If the constitutional religious rights of the Colorado baker who was sued for not preparing an LGBT wedding cake were not acknowledged, he would not have won in the nation’s highest court – or even still have his business today.

“The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Christian baker Jack Phillips when he refused to endorse same-sex marriage through his business, [a]nd religious rights specifically were protected in the Supreme Court ruling that created same-sex marriage,” WND’s Bob Unruh informed. “But the House bill, Liberty Counsel said, ‘specifically forbids raising religious free exercise as a claim or defense to the LGBT agenda.’”

Manipulating the language and adding their own semantics is said to be the name of the game for LGBTQ activists looking to steamroll religious rights in the names of “equality” and “inclusion.”

“This bill amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by striking the word ‘sex,’ and inserting ‘sex, sexual orientation, gender identity’ as protected classes throughout the federal code,” Liberty Counsel explained, according to WND. “This amendment applies to employment, housing, rental, public accommodation and more.”

The consequences of such an infiltration into virtually every aspect of Christians’ lives were then visited.

“Therefore, church leadership and nonprofit faith-based organizations and schools would be forced to hire gender-confused individuals and allow men access to female (or vice versa) restrooms, showers, locker rooms, dressing rooms, shelters, dormitories and sports,” the nonprofit Christian law group added. “This legislation would also create many more victims – like women in shelters who have been sexually assaulted by a man posing as a ‘transgender’ to gain access to the facility.”

It was further impressed how the Equality Act would straightjacket Christians in numerous aspects of their lives so they would not be able to live out their faith according to their sincerely held religious beliefs.

“Churches that allow weddings would have to provide their facilities to homosexuals,” Unruh pointed out. “It would impact churches’ tax exemption, as well as college accreditation. Christian schools would be targets – so would faith-oriented adoption agencies, foster parents and even parents’ custody of their own children if they oppose a child’s ‘right to transition to a person of the other sex.’ The religious rights of Christian photographers, artists, bakers, wedding planners and printers would be curbed in the public square.”

In essence, Scripture related to sexual morality would be banned and condemned as “discriminatory” or “hate speech.”

“This bill literally sets the stage for setting up the Bible as prohibited material where it addresses homosexuality,” Liberty Counsel noted.

Another conservative organization sent out another warning that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif) plan would detrimentally affect workers, employers, parents, children, women, medical professionals and nonprofit groups.

“Where the original Civil Rights Act of 1964 furthered equality by ensuring that African Americans had equal access to public accommodations and material goods, the Equality Act would further inequality by penalizing everyday Americans for their beliefs about marriage and biological sex,” the Heritage Foundation stated, according to WND. “Similar sexual orientation and gender identity laws at the state and local level have already been used in this way.”

Monica Burke, who serves as research assistant at the Heritage Foundation’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society gave another warning about the Democrats’ problematic legislation.

“[The Equality Act] actually would promote inequality by elevating the ideologies of special-interest groups to the level of protected groups in civil rights law,” Burke told the Daily Signal. 

Another advocate for women and children, Emily Zinos, who serves as a member of Hands Across the Aisle – a bipartisan women’s group that has partnered to defeat the idea that “gender” and “sex” are the same – took her argument to social media.

“Right now, the tenets of gender identity ideology are taught through activism and enforced by way of social ostracism,” Zinos tweeted on March 18. “But if the Equality Act passes, gender identity ideology will be taught via the law, and its punitive power will ensure your compliance.” .

At least 161 corporations support the Equality Act, including Apple – led by its openly homosexual CEO, Tim Cook, who lauded the newly proposed legislation.

“Nobody should be discriminated against because of who they are or who they love,” Cook tweeted in support of the Equality Act on March 13. The #EqualityAct is a step forward – protecting everyone from discrimination in housing, employment and in the public square. We hope Congress works together to make it the law of the land.”

In response, Hands Across the Aisle contended that the Equality Act targets America’s most vulnerable

“[The Equality Act is a] direct attack on women and girls,” the pro-family women’s group tweeted after Cook, according to Breitbart News.

With more and more sexually victimized women coming out of the woodwork to expose the abuse to which they were subjected at the hands of men in America’s ever-growing movement, the Equality Act appears to run in direct opposition to the movement.

“In the era of #MeToo, it’s hard to understand why these companies are willing to endanger women and girls by acting so deliberately to undermine the nation’s indecent exposure and voyeurism restrictions – in what are supposed to be single-sex accommodations,” Breitbart News pointed out. “Is it any wonder that many of them have recently faced significant sexual harassment allegations, or had large bias or sexual harassment claims brought against them?”

Serving as Alliance Defending Freedom’s (ADF) senior vice president of U.S. Legal Division, Kristen Waggoner, contended that gender ideology coerced by the federal government would result in nothing but problems for women who currently take their equal educational opportunities for granted.

“If gender-identity ideology becomes the law of the land, women in all walks of life will suffer the consequences of the blatantly sexist notion that a man who adopts stereotypical feminine roles, behaviors or clothing must be treated in all respects as a woman,” Waggoner wrote in an op-ed for The Hill. “Contrary to the gender identity advocates who are pushing the act, being female is not about wearing dresses, adopting other feminine stereotypes, or ‘feeling female.’”

Playing make-believe

With the new gender privileges, women are now expected to be as physically strong, fast and agile as men – even though men are genetically built as the more robust of the two sexes.

“Waggoner pointed to the recent news from Connecticut where two male high school students who claim to be female soundly defeated exceptional female athletes at a women’s track meet,” Breitbart’s Dr. Susan Berry recounted. “When asked what they thought about the girls losing to them, one’s advice was telling: ‘Run faster,’ but by that standard, there shouldn’t be any separate sports for women. Women just have to run faster, jump higher and tackle harder.”

Waggoner pointed out that the Equality Act’s passage into law would place American families’ safety at greater risk.

“My privacy, my daughter’s privacy and my mother’s privacy simply don’t depend on what a man thinks about his gender,” Waggoner added.

Furthermore, Burke emphasized that the risk of sexual assault would also be increased if the Equality Act is enforced.

“A federal sexual orientation and gender identity law would give male sexual predators who self-identify as females access to private facilities,” she asserted. “[Such a law] could also make victims less likely to report sexual misconduct and [make] police less likely to get involved – for fear of being accused of discrimination.”

The Heritage Foundation also took to Twitter to list the ramifications of passing the Equality Act.

“1. impose sexual ideology; 2. compel speech; 3. shut down charities; 4. allow more biological males to defeat girls in sports; 5. coerce medical professionals; 6. lead to more parents losing custody of their children; 7. enable sexual assault,” Ryan T. Anderson – senior research fellow of the Heritage Foundation – tweeted March 14.

Parents beware

The Equality Act would also strip parents of their right to protect their children from the influences and urgings of LGBT community and its agenda.

“The safety of gender-confused children could also be at greater risk with a federal law based on gender ideology that places parental rights on the chopping block when parents refuse to consent to puberty-blocking drugs,” Berry impressed. “Transgender activists are lobbying courts – with some success – to have children removed from the homes of parents who refuse to affirm their child’s self-proclaimed gender identity.”

And this trend has already begun in a third of the states.

“Currently – without a federal law cemented in gender ideology – 16 states have already passed laws barring gender-confused minors from treatment with mental health providers who might actually attempt to help them evaluate their claim to be of a gender that is inconsistent with their biological sex,” Berry informed. “Ethical mental health specialists in those states now must fear for their livelihood if they do not immediately affirm a gender-confused child’s ‘new’ gender identity. The Equality Act could ensure no child in any state who is gender-confused can receive the counseling he or she needs.”

Read more at Dobson: Dems using ‘Equality Bill’ to snuff out Christianity.