Source: REUTERS/Nate Chute

A new RFRA-style law proposed in West Virginia would offer sweeping protections for those violating the law so long as the violation is committed to preserve religious liberty. Senate Bill 11 – also known as the West Virginia Freedom of Conscience Protection Act – establishes that only a “governmental interest of the highest magnitude that cannot otherwise be achieved without burdening the exercise of religion” can compel someone to obey the law if their religious beliefs come into conflict with it.

The devil is in the detail though: the protections the legislation provides surpass every other state-level RFRA law based on the way SB 11 defines the exercise of religion:

“Exercise of religion” means the sincere practice or observance of religion or religious conscience. It includes, but is not limited to, the ability to act or refuse to act in a manner substantially motivated by one’s sincerely held religious beliefs or religious conscience, whether or not the exercise is compulsory or central to a larger system of religious belief.

It doesn’t matter if the majority of Christians believe refusing service to LGBT people isn’t a Christian concept; this legislation permits outliers so long as the person espousing the so-called religious belief says their personal religious beliefs conflict with the law. And espousing that belief automatically relieves a person from having to obey the law unless the government can offer a compelling state interest in violating the person’s beliefs.

While anti-gay conservatives have preached for years that affording LGBT people the same rights and privileges their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts already enjoy and take for granted is somehow conferring “special rights,” the West Virginia Freedom of Conscience Protection Act would literally create a new class of rights superior to all other protections afforded at the local, state or federal level. It would create a special class of rights wherein one civil right comes into conflict with another, religious belief would always prevail.

And since the GOP legislators in West Virginia wanted to ensure their legislation wasn’t stricken down for discrimination, they wrote the bill broadly rather than singling out the LGBT community for discrimination in places of public accommodation, employment and housing. In doing so, however, the West Virginia Freedom of Conscience Protection Act opens the door for discrimination across the spectrum so long as the discriminatory act is based in sincerely held religious belief.

In other words, it would essentially be a “Get Out of Jail Free” card for all bigots, racists, misogynists, religious zealots across the state of West Virginia.

UPDATE [February 11, 2016 @ 3:15pm ET]

In a vote of 72-26 the West Virginia House just passed House Bill 4012 – a bill originating in the House similar in nature to SB 11 but more narrowly tailored. The legislation now goes to the Senate where it will face a slimmer Republican majority.

It should be noted that a total of 16 Democrats stepped across the aisle to support legalized discrimination in the name of religion:

Bates (D-Raleigh)

Blackwell (D-Wyoming)

Boggs (D-Braxton)

Campbell (D-Randolph)

Eldridge (D-Lincoln)

Hicks (D-Wayne)

Lynch (D-Webster)

Marcum (D-Mingo)

Moye (D-Raleigh)

Perry (D-Fayette)

R. Phillips (D-Logan)

Reynolds (D-Cabell)

Rodighiero (D-Logan)

Shaffer (D-Preston)

P. Smith (D-Lewis)

P. White (D-Mingo)

Stay tuned for a full update on the legislation’s movement.

Peacock Panache readers:

Tim Peacock is the Managing Editor and founder of Peacock Panache and has worked as a civil rights advocate for over twenty years. During that time he’s worn several hats including leading on campus LGBTQ advocacy in the University of Missouri campus system, interning with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and volunteering at advocacy organizations. You can learn more about him at his personal website.

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