HRC Honors Buttigieg For Pushing Legislation Restricting Religious Freedom

Though South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg advocates for freedom as part of his 2020 presidential campaign bid, he apparently does not believe small business owners have the right to religious freedom.

Buttigieg’s strong support of the Democratic Equality Act, an act pushing non-discriminatory policies against LGBTQ peoples, earned him the honor of speaking at a Human Rights Campaign event in May, according to the Free Beacon.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) announced Tuesday that Buttigieg will speak at the HRC Las Vegas Dinner on Saturday, May 11. “A champion of LGBTQ equality, Buttigieg helped lead the fight against then-Indiana governor Mike Pence’s efforts to license discrimination against LGBTQ Hoosiers in 2015,” the Human Rights Campaign said in a Tuesday press release. “Buttigieg is an outspoken advocate of the Equality Act — critically important, bipartisan legislation that would finally provide clear protections against discrimination for LGBTQ people across the country.”

“Don’t let anybody tell you that the other side is the side that’s got a handle on freedom,” Buttigieg tweeted in March, “We are the party of freedom and we shouldn’t be afraid to go out there and say it.”

https://twitter.com/PeteButtigieg/status/1109865778805907456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer
“We have allowed our conservative friends to get a monopoly on freedom,” Buttigieg says in the tweeted video, “Now they care about freedom, but they care about a very specific kind of freedom. Freedom from. Freedom from regulation. As though the government were the only thing that could make us unfree. But that’s not true, is it? We know that your neighbor can make you unfree.”

The South Bend mayor does not hesitate to champion the Equality Act‘s ambition to ban any kind of LGBTQ discrimination in places of business, regardless of religious belief.

“Not aware of many same-sex couples around South Bend demanding homophobic bakers supply their weddings,” Buttigieg tweeted in March.

https://twitter.com/PeteButtigieg/status/579006722557095936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer
“Our laws should respect the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of every citizen,” said Greg Baylor, director of the Center for Religious Schools at Alliance Defending Freedom, to the Free Beacon. Baylor said the Equality Act “fails to meet this basic standard.”

“This federal law would force Americans to participate in events and speak messages that violate their core beliefs,” he said. “We should reject laws that single out and punish citizens on the basis of their peacefully expressed beliefs.”