The Arkansas Legislature is considering two bad amendments to your state constitution. Please contact your lawmakers now to oppose them.
- SJR 14 would enact a state version of the federal law called RFRA, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The federal RFRA law is directly responsible for the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby debacle, allowing religious business owners to avoid following laws that they claim conflict with their religious beliefs. State RFRAs, based on the federal version, are emboldening corporations and business owners to discriminate against LGBTQ people, religious minorities, the nonreligious — and any other group their religion declares inferior.
- SJR 16 would require public school teams to be designated based on “biological sex.” The impetus for this phony concern over women’s athletics comes out of fundamentalist Christian opposition to trans individuals. The marginalization of trans athletes is rooted in archaic gender stereotypes based on false and stereotyped understanding of strength, biology and gender roles. There is a long legacy of this troubling sex discrimination in athletics. These myths, of course, are closely tied to the long history of religion treating women as inherently inferior to men. Ironically, the same folks who are behind this legislation have historically treated women’s sports as second class.
The Arkansas Senate State Agencies & Governmental Committee has a hearing scheduled on these two bills tomorrow, Tuesday, March 30, at 9:30 a.m. local time. Please click on the red “Take Action” link below to use our automated system to urge all members of this committee to vote no on these two proposals. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
