block the confirmation of Chai Feldblum to the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
In a letter drafted by the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), the groups claim President Obama’s nominee would use her position to infringe on religious liberty. They urged
the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to reject Feldblum’s
confirmation during a hearing expected to take place Thursday.
(Photo: Chai Feldblum)
The letter was signed by more than 100 people, including Tom Minnery of Focus on
the Family, Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver, American Family Association
President Tim Wildmon, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Ethics &
Religious Liberty Commission, and Rick Joyner of MorningStar Ministries.
A law professor, Feldblum has a long history of activism for
gay rights and is a primary author of the Employment
Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit discrimination against
employees on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.
The leaders claim Feldblum believes sexual liberty trumps
religious belief.
“According to Feldblum, a person’s religious beliefs (what
she calls ‘belief liberty’) can be trumped by ‘sexual liberty,'” the letter
stated. “When ‘sexual liberty’ and the constitutionally guaranteed right to the
free exercise of religion conflict, Feldblum has stated, ‘I’m having a hard
time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win.'”
TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty said Feldblum’s views
are at odds with the mainstream.
“Her views are too radical and too contemptuous of the
free exercise of religious liberty guaranteed by the Constitution’s First
Amendment to allow her to define discriminatory practices in America’s
workplace,” Lafferty said. “Religious citizens could not get a fair hearing
before an EEOC where she would be a commission member.”
