On July 25th, The Human Rights Campaign called on the Senate to
restore civil rights protections in Head Start program provisions. The
U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday evening on a measure that
would allow federal funds to be used for religious-based discrimination
in Head Start programs, overturning non-discrimination provisions in
place since 1981. Publicly funded discrimination based on religion has
long been used as a proxy for sexual orientation-based discrimination,
says HRC.
"Since President Reagan's first term, Head Start provisions
ensured that discrimination based on religion would not be a factor in
giving children the educational and social services they so deserve,"
said Winnie Stachelberg, HRC's political director. "Today's vote would
repeal that provision and allow federally funded discrimination in
preschools, when children are supposed to be learning about tolerance
and cooperation, not bias and prejudice."
An amendment that would have restored the non-discrimination
language in Head Start program provisions failed Thursday evening by a
199-231 vote. Reps. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.; Chet Edwards, D-Texas;
Barney Frank, D-Mass.; Bobby Scott, D-Va.; and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.,
offered the amendment to restore the language, which was originally
introduced and passed with bipartisan support in the 97th Congress. If
the legislation is not amended before its enactment, it would mark the
first time religious organizations could use federal money to hire staff
based on their religious beliefs in Head Start programs.
"By abandoning this long-standing non-discrimination policy, the
legislation would permit religious organizations to discriminate with
federal funds, even when engaging in purely secular activities, such as
teaching young children preschool skills like counting and drawing,"
said Stachelberg. "We urge the Senate to correct this harmful policy
change that can be used to discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender Americans."
Religion has been used as a proxy for discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation in two prominent cases – Bellmore v. United
Methodist's Children's Home and Department of Human Resources of Georgia
and Pedreira v. Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children – where gay and
lesbian employees were allegedly fired from their secular counseling
jobs at religious-based homes when employers realized they were gay.
"We do not object to faith-based organizations providing
education-related services or other social services. This is critical
work and we should all be able to contribute to such important efforts,"
said Stachelberg. "We do, however, oppose tax-payer funded
discrimination based on religion when our country was founded on the
principle of religious freedom."
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