Civil Rights Advocates to Address Discriminatory Religious Exemption Bills

MEDIA ADVISORY / LINK
January 29, 2016
Contact: Scott Simpson, Simpson@civilrights.org, (202) 466-2061

Monday: Civil Rights Advocates to Address Discriminatory Religious Exemption Bills in Georgia and Nationwide

New Report Documents How Religious Arguments Have Been Used to Justify Discrimination Against Diverse Communities

ATLANTA – On Monday, February 1 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET, national and Georgia civil rights and community advocates will convene in Atlanta, Georgia, to address religious exemption bills that would deny civil rights to Americans. Atlanta’s LGBT Institute at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund of Washington, D.C., are hosting the event.

LIVE STREAM: Available here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vHTwhWnacXM  accompanied by a #StrikingABalance Twitter discussion.

At the event, The Leadership Conference Education Fund will release its report, Striking a Balance: Advancing Civil and Human Rights While Preserving Religious Liberty, which documents the use of religious arguments to oppose the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage and equality, racial integration, inter-racial marriage, immigration, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the right to collectively bargain. Striking a Balance also examines the current legal and political landscape in which religious exemptions are being used to deny civil and human rights, including LGBT equality.

The event will include diverse national and Georgia community advocates representing African Americans, Latinos, women, the LGBT community, and people of faith. 

More than half a dozen religious exemption bills have been filed in Georgia and these communities are standing together to oppose the use of religion as a justification to discriminate. 

RSVP to attend by clicking HERE.

Email Simpson@civilrights.org to RSVP or to request an embargoed copy of Striking a Balance.

LIVE STREAM: Available here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vHTwhWnacXM  accompanied by a #StrikingABalance Twitter discussion.

WHAT: National and Georgia civil rights advocates address religious exemption bills and release a report chronicling the use of religious arguments to justify discrimination against diverse communities.

WHEN: Monday, February 1 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET

WHO:

  • Panel One – National Advocates
    • Wade Henderson, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference Education Fund and The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
    • Richard Cohen, President and CEO, Southern Poverty Law Center
  • Panel Two – Georgia Advocates
    • Francys Johnson, State President, Georgia NAACP
    • Stephanie Cho, Interim Executive Director, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta
    • Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director, GALEO
    • Monica Simpson, Executive Director, SisterSong
    • Jeff Graham, Executive Director, Georgia Equality

Additional speakers include Derreck Kayongo and Ryan Roemerman of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Helen Butler of the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, and Bishop O.C. Allen III of the Vision Church of Atlanta.

WHERE: The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, 100 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd., NW, Atlanta, GA

LIVE STREAM: Available here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vHTwhWnacXM  accompanied by a #StrikingABalance Twitter discussion.

RSVP: To Simpson@civilrights.org to request an embargoed copy of Striking a Balance.

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Ryan Roemerman