Government must not fund a private entity’s religiously motivated discrimination. Nor may government grant special religious exceptions from a law when it would cause harm to others, such as same-sex couples who want to become foster parents and the children in need of homes.

“UCSF Health is a public institution that cannot enter into an agreement that requires its employees or students to abide by any particular religious beliefs. That is a fundamental violation of religious freedom,” said Richard B. Katskee, AU’s legal director.

Much of the bias that LGBTQ people experience on a daily basis is rooted in fundamentalist views of religion. But in our richly diverse nation, our shared secular laws are what must continue to govern – without special privileges or exceptions for some religious groups.

Allowing the U.S. House of Representatives to prohibit secular invocations excludes millions of Americans who identify as non-theist, agnostic, spiritual but not religious or “nones,” relegating them to the status of second-class citizenship.