Religious liberty, immigration sanctuary, and unintended consequences for reproductive and LGBTQ Rights.

USA: HUMAN RIGHTS

2019

Laura KEELEY, «Religious liberty, immigration sanctuary, and unintended consequences for reproductive and LGBTQ Rights», Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, 2019, 169.

In this article, the author traces the history of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) and how, without paying attention to it, Congress adopted an act that can cause serious damage to reproductive and LGBTIQ rights. Indeed, the arguments justifying religious liberty in the name of sanctuary in cases of assistance to migrants, was then misappropriated to justify ones right to religious freedom to discriminate women and sexual minorities by refusing them services. She thus demonstrates how and why fundamental rights can collide. She calls for a better delimitation of religious rights. According to the author, progressive groups should then carefully evaluate claims of religious liberty made in the name of sanctuary.
Direct link to the article (journals.cdrs.columbia.edu)
Cross-reference to the contribution «Libertà religiosa e divieto di discriminazione in base all’orientamento sessuale» (Italian)