ANALYSIS/OPINION:
A president’s executive order is a special type of regulation, intended to tell federal bureaucrats how to do their jobs in enforcing the nation’s laws.
Instead, President Obama wants to use them as imperial edicts, creating new laws that tell Americans how we must live our lives. Some individuals would receive new benefits at the expense of others, but Mr. Obama mislabels these as “rights.” He and his fellow Democrats are cashing in on issuing these special privileges.
Most recently, Mr. Obama has promised an executive order granting LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) protections for everyone connected with a company that does business with the federal government. No federal law requires this as a condition of having a federal contract or grant.
Mr. Obama has no more authority to issue this edict than to require everyone to wear green socks or to get a rainbow tattoo as a condition for being a federal contractor. Or requiring federal contractors to pay kickbacks to the LGBT community. Indeed, his impending order amounts to kickbacks to that LGBT community.
On Monday, the White House announced that the executive order is being drafted and we should expect it soon. On Tuesday, Mr. Obama headlined a huge LGBT gala dinner in New York City to raise money for the Democratic National Committee. The amount raised wasn’t announced, but an estimated 550 people attended and each paid a minimum of $1,200 to be there, with some paying $32,400.
SEE ALSO:
An estimated 28 million private-sector workers will be impacted by the executive order, if it survives legal challenges. Under the pretense of giving directions to federal bureaucrats, it actually gives orders to the private employers of those 28 million workers. It will direct that, despite their religious beliefs or scruples, they must consider sexual behavior, or “orientation,” as having the same legal protection as race or gender. Plus, it will treat “gender identity” as a new area of protected expression.
Gender identity is typified by Conchita Wurst, who recently won Eurovision’s singing competition. Except that she is actually a he named Thomas Neuwirth, who performed as a drag queen in a slinky gold lame skirt, long hair and full beard.
The notion of day-to-day gender identify shifts, cross-dressing or provoking outrage may seem self-fulfillment to some, but it is disruptive in the workplace. It should not be dictated by presidential order to employers of 28 million Americans.
Laws against discrimination due to race or sex are based on things that we cannot change about ourselves. But we choose how we behave; it is not locked in at birth. The LGBT community claims to be “born this way;” yet they don’t consider it unchangeable for people to remain totally straight.
The LGBT community is urging Mr. Obama to disregard any protections for religious beliefs when he issues his order. To them, his federal intervention will stop churches and individuals from stigmatizing their behavior. Already, 90 self-described “religious, education, human rights, labor, LGBT, women’s and health organizations” wrote the Justice Department on June 10, asking the agency to declare that religious groups do not enjoy exemption from federal non-discrimination standards.
The organizations making the request include the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Humanist Association, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the Feminist Majority, Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, the National Education Association, the National Organization for Women, People for the American Way, the Rainbow Push Coalition, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Transgender Law Center and YWCA USA.
PHOTOS: Eye-popping excuses in American political scandals
Many in these and other groups are deeply immersed in the “pay-to-play” network of Democratic politics: It’s their method to impose restrictions that would undo the values of millions of Americans. This week’s NYC event shows only the tip of the iceberg, since the LGBT community is estimated to be at least one-sixth of Mr. Obama’s fundraising machine.
More events are coming soon, including a White House meeting on Thursday to brief activists on other ways the LGBT agenda is being promoted through federal policies and regulations.
Some call it a rainbow agenda. But there’s so much cash involved that the dominant color is definitely green.
• Ernest Istook is a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma. You can listen to his daily radio talk show, noon to 3 p.m. Eastern, online at KZLSam.com. Get Mr. Istook’s free email newsletter by signing up at eepurl.com/JPojD.
