What You Need to Know:
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Religious Freedom
Bill Status: PASSED
This resolution – a statement of what the legislature values – recognized January 16th as “religious freedom day”. When a bill like this is passed unanimously in both chambers, it is worth taking note. As other bills are filed that could potentially jeopardize our religious freedoms, this resolution provides a perfect opportunity to hold our legislators accountable. The freedom to worship is a right with robust protections that should be respected. The End.
Bill Status: PASSED
This bill makes a subtle change with significant implications. It changes the definition of “hate crime” from a crime committed because of the victim’s characteristics, to a crime motivated by a “belief or perception” about the victim’s characteristics.
Crime is wrong, hate is wrong — end of story. However, it is dangerous to criminalize beliefs rather than behavior.
Consider this. If HB 199 were to also pass, the language and implication of these bills together could easily position a biblical and traditional view of human sexuality as a hate crime.
Bill Status: EXPIRED
When SOGI was added to Delaware law, the definition of the phrase was heavily debated. HB155 removes those hard fought definitions to now allow people to effectively change their orientation and identity by the moment.
Do you see how sexual predators can exploit such a broad definition of gender identity and sexual orientation?
Bill Status: EXPIRED
HB199 is a bill that would amend Delaware’s Constitution to include sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) and disability as protected classes. By adding “SOGI” to the state’s Constitution, this bill completely redefines, voids, and erases the definition of “woman” throughout all of Delaware law. This bill does not solve a single problem – it is 100% ideological.
How can we protect what we cannot define? We can’t.
HB199 annihilates women’s sports. HB 199 would allow anyone who claims to be a woman to compete as a woman. We’re already seeing it happen — women who have trained and sacrificed for years are losing scholarships and opportunities because men who identify as women are competing against them.
HB199 equates sexual orientation and gender identity, something that is allegedly fluid, with unchanging characteristics like race or national origin.
HB199 is the ultimate affront to parents. Parents across the country are objecting to the porn exposure and sex acts being taught in our schools as a matter of inclusivity. The transgender ideology is already being taught in curriculum as young as 4 years old. If HB199 had passed, making SOGI a protected class, it would silence any and all objections to this sexualization of kids in the classroom.
HB199 in effect means that a Christian school or church can easily be sued for adhering to and teaching Biblical standards of human sexuality.
Please hear this clearly. As Christ followers, we are commanded to love our neighbors (Mark 12:31), defined for us in the Bible as rejoicing in the truth, not in wrongdoing (1 Corinthians 13:6). And we can trust His Word as Truth when it says “He created them male and female” (Genesis 1:27).
Bill Status: PASSED
HB 255 criminalizes the deprivation of the “rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the United States Constitution, the Delaware Constitution, or the laws of the State of Delaware.”
On its own, this is a benign bill. But here’s the danger:
If HB 199 had passed, it would have made fluid gender expression a protected class along with immutable characteristics like race or national origin. This would mean that religious leaders who refuse to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies, or school administrators who prevent biological males from entering their female restrooms, could be accused of depriving individuals of their “rights, privileges, or immunities.”
Can you see how the passing of HB 199 would have undermined our entire state code?
Bill Status: EXPIRED
The most dangerous bill this session, HB 199, was filed but never actually made it to the committee. But HB 460 was equally dangerous but just went about it differently.
HB 460 would have enshrined the “right to privacy” in Delaware’s Constitution. Remember that rights protected in the Constitution are given the highest weight of the law.
This so-called right to privacy will clash with religious liberty, parental rights, the right to and dignity of human life, and many others.
The “right to privacy” is used to support …
- the “right” to abortion, based on the premise used in Roe v. Wade.
- the “right” to assisted suicide.
- a direct invitation and open door for teachers to potentially teach comprehensive sex education (based on the cases mentioned in HB 460’s synopsis).
- a child’s right to “privacy” — meaning, parents can be excluded from their child’s medical information or school information. Remember our discussion about HB 400?
- et cetera …
The most dangerous implications of HB 460 were that it would have enshrined abortion in Delaware constitution, and severely restricted parental rights when they conflicted with their child’s “privacy.”