The Shelby County (Tenn.) Commission is expected to vote Monday on an ordinance that would provide special protection based on sexual orientation and "gender identity." It would affect all county employees, all businesses that contract with the county and all employers with 15 or more employees.
This week's committee vote was 5-6, with two abstentions. Gay activists are pressuring the two commissioners to support the ordinance.
Caleb Price, research analyst at Focus on the Family, said the average person has no idea how dangerous such ordinances are.
"They pit the homosexual agenda against our most fundamental religious freedoms," he said. "And when the government takes the side of gay activists, the freedom to run your own business according to your deeply held religious principles is compromised.
Price said Shelby County residents — and all Americans — should be concerned if this ordinance passes.
"This will make Christian business owners second-class citizens," he said, "and lay the groundwork for more laws that will marginalize anybody who disagrees with the promotion of homosexuality and 'transgenderism.' "
— Jennifer Mesko
