In March, the San Antonio City Council voted to remove a proposed Chick-fil-A location from its airport concession agreement, citing the fast food chain’s record of donating to organizations that discriminated against LGBTQ people. Now, conservatives in the Texas state legislature are trying to pass a law that would ensure something like that never happens again. On Wednesday night, the state Senate passed a bill that would forbid the government from penalizing businesses (and individuals) on the basis of their charitable giving or religious affiliation, the Dallas Morning News reports. The bill, which supporters call the “Save Chick-fil-A bill,” now has to pass in the state Senate once more before moving to the House. If it passes, the bill would prohibit any government entity from taking “adverse actions” against an individual or business for their “membership in, affiliation with, or contribution, donation, or other support to a religious organization.” It’s impossible to not see this bill as an explicit defense of Chick-fil-A, which continues to make headlines for its charitable donations to organizations that discriminate against LGBTQ people, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a religious organization that requires its employees to refrain from “homosexual acts.” In March, ThinkProgress reported that Chick-fil-A continued to donate to such organizations despite claiming it would no longer do so. The bill’s supporters say it’s a way for the state to protect the rights of businesses like Chick-fil-A. “I think you’ll find this is a reasonable response, this is a legitimate approach to defending First Amendment speech,” state Sen. Bryan Hughes told the Dallas Morning News. But the bill’s opponents say it would give legal cover to those who discriminate against others based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. State Sen. José Menéndez told the News the bill wouldn’t just protect Chick-fil-A, but also hate groups like the Westboro Baptist Church. “These are the groups that we worry about getting protection in your bill,” Menéndez said. “These are the people who openly espouse their hatred for our citizens.” Chick-fil-A, for its part, has claimed in the past that its donations to groups that discriminate against LGBTQ people shouldn’t be interpreted as homophobic. In March, a Chick-fil-A spokesperson told Vox that the “sole focus of our donations was to support causes focused on youth and education. We are proud of the positive impact we are making in communities across America and have been transparent about our giving on our website. To suggest our giving was done to support a political or non-inclusive agenda is inaccurate and misleading.” In other words, Chick-fil-A wants to be able to continue to donate to the organizations it supports without being punished for it. The proposed legislation, meanwhile, would punish government entities for refusing to do business with companies that choose to align themselves with discriminatory organizations. Want more stories from The Goods by Vox? Sign up for our newsletter here.<doc-sep>Republican lawmakers in Texas are pushing legislation — dubbed the “Save Chick-fil-A” bill — that they say is about protecting the religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals and businesses. Critics, however, allege the measure is part of a nationwide effort to use religion as a weapon to discriminate against LGBTQ people. “This is not an innocent effort,” Samantha Smoot, interim executive director of Equality Texas, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, told NBC News. “This is a part of a national initiative to pass legislation that is going to hurt the LGBTQ community.” A bill in the state House of Representatives sought to prevent governmental entities “from taking any adverse action against any person based wholly or partly on the person’s membership in, affiliation with, or contribution, donation, or other support provided to a religious organization.” Supporters claim the bill was a corrective measure after the San Antonio City Council in March blocked the national fast-food chain from opening a Chick-fil-A at the city’s airport over what it called the company's "legacy of anti-LGBT behavior." The company has donated millions over the years to groups that oppose same-sex marriage. But after state Rep. Julie Johnson, a Democrat, managed to table the bill last Friday, the state Senate managed to revive it on Monday, led by Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Republican. The Senate passed the bill on Thursday with a 19 to 12 vote, and it will soon head back to the House. Lawmakers voted to permit the Senate bill to be heard by the Senate Affairs Committee without giving advance notice to the public. Although dozens testified both in favor and against against the House bill when it was heard last month, the lack of notice meant the Senate bill was scheduled for a full hearing before LGBTQ advocates were given the opportunity to speak against it. Johnson said it was “not a surprise” to see Texas Republicans attempt to force through the Senate version of the bill. “We suspected as much on Friday after we were able to kill it in the House,” she told NBC News. “As an LGBTQ person, these bills are very, very personal for me and my family, and I'm going to do everything I can to stop them. We welcome the day when the Texas legislature can move beyond the hate and targeting of the LGBTQ community.” Proponents of the “Save Chick-fil-A” bills have until May 27, when the Texas legislature wraps for the 2019 session, to pass them. INSIDE PROJECT BLITZ’S ‘PLAYBOOK’ The bills appear to have been inspired by Project Blitz, a right-wing campaign that seeks to “protect religious freedom, preserve America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and promote prayer” in state legislatures. Spearheaded by the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, based in Chesapeake, Virginia, Project Blitz is a collaborative effort with the Christian nationalist group Wallbuilders and the conservative National Legal Foundation. Like the American Legislative Exchange Council, its mission is to influence public policy by devising “model bills” that lawmakers can pull from to craft legislation. “This is designed to inject religion into public schools and our civic spaces,” independent campaign finance tracker Chris Tackett told NBC News, “but the broader push is to discriminate against the LGBTQ community with bills that focus on ‘sincerely held religious beliefs.’” The first version of both the House and Senate bills — which were significantly altered after being introduced — appear to have been directly pulled from a 148-page document that Tackett refers to as “the playbook.” A side-by-side comparison of the bills provided by Equality Texas shows striking similarities to Project Blitz’s “Marriage Tolerance Act.” While news coverage of the bills has largely focused on their connection to the Chick-fil-A debate, Dan Quinn, research director for the Texas Freedom Network, said their impact would be widespread if the legislation passed. His organization works to defend civil liberties in Texas and claims the measure is antithetical to its cause. “If it's not amended, the real-world consequences are fairly broad,” Quinn told NBC News, adding that “people can be turned away from businesses, people can be fired, or people can be denied a home” because of the employer or landlord’s religious views. According to Smoot of Equality Texas, the bills are built on a “foundation of fueling hostility toward LGBTQ equality.” “It gives a platform to those who would try to inflame opposition to LGBTQ people,” she said. “It’s a kind of a dog whistle understood by anti-LGBTQ activists to be a vehicle for them to promote not real religious liberty but a twisted rhetoric that says that it's OK to discriminate against LGBTQ folks.” ‘NOT ABOUT A GREAT CHICKEN SANDWICH’ The “Save Chick-fil-A” bills are among 14 measures based on Project Blitz’s model legislation that have been put forward in the Texas Legislature this year, according to Tackett. “You can go through and find places where there's been passages copied and pasted right out of the the playbook into these bills,” he claimed. This tally includes the majority of “anti-LGBTQ religious exemption bills filed in Texas this year,” Smoot added. While the majority of anti-LGBTQ bills pulled from Project Blitz have stalled in recent years, Smoot said at least one has managed to become law. In 2017, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill allowing adoption and foster care agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples if placing a child in their home conflicts with the agency’s “sincerely held religious beliefs.” NBC News reached out to the authors and co-sponsors of the Senate and House bills for comment on the bills’ connection to Project Blitz, but did not receive immediate responses. Johnson, an out lesbian, said she believes the "Save Chick-fil-A" effort is unlikely to find enough allies to reach the governor’s desk. She added that conservatives have increasingly approached her to condemn the proposed legislation. “The people that are promoting this legislation are very few,” she said of her fellow lawmakers in the Texas House, who will be forced to weigh the bill once more now that it passed the Senate. “The overwhelming majority of my colleagues do not favor discrimination against the LGBTQ community.”<doc-sep>“The majority of Texans oppose laws that allow the use of religion to hurt people simply because of who they are or whom they love." Texas lawmakers are working overtime to enshrine LGBTQ+ discrimination into state law. Last week, Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives were able to sink a bill that would’ve made it easier for individuals and businesses to discriminate against queer people under the guise of protecting freedom of religion. The bill became known as the “Save Chick-fil-A” bill after the city of San Antonio barred the fast food retailer from opening up a store at the local airport because of the business’ “legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior.” Though the House killed the bill, the state Senate revived a companion version of the bill on Monday, The Dallas Morning News reports, forgoing standard practice to allow it to be heard in committee without public notice. Senate Bill 1978, also dubbed the “Save Chick-fil-A” bill, passed the committee and will now head to the full Senate on Tuesday. "It's appalling to hold a ghost hearing and then take a snap vote that leaves virtually no chance for anyone to tell senators how such a sweeping discrimination bill would affect individuals and families across the state," Kathy Miller, president of Texas Freedom Network, said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News. "The lieutenant governor is so desperate to pass a bill that shields discrimination against LGBT Texans that he no longer even pretends to care what anybody else thinks about it. But ramming this bill through doesn't change the fact that the majority of Texans oppose laws that allow the use of religion to hurt people simply because of who they are or whom they love." RELATED | Trump Will Come Out Against Equality Act, Says Administration Official<doc-sep>The legislation was killed in the House, but the Senate version is advancing with just two weeks left in the session. AUSTIN, Texas — A bill that was killed in the House of Representatives is getting a second chance to pass the Texas Legislature thanks to some hasty moves by the Texas Senate. Last Thursday was the deadline for the House of Representatives to initially pass House Bills, and any bill that didn't pass effectively died that day. That's what many thought happened to Representative Matt Krause's House Bill 3172. The committee substitute of the bill would prohibit a governmental entity from taking "adverse action" against a person, partly or as a whole, for their support of a religious organization. Rep. Krause's bill was called up for a vote Thursday, but before he could finish laying out the bill on the House floor, it was killed when Representative Julie Johnson (D-Carrollton), a member of the House's newly formed LGBTQ Caucus, raised a point of order on the bill, basically killing it on a technicality. But Monday, the bill was revived. While the Senate was meeting, the members agreed to allow Senate Bill 1978, the companion bill to HB 3172, to be heard in committee without posting a public notice. When the Senate Committee on State Affairs met after the Senate adjourned, no one was at the hearing to speak for, against or on the bill. In fact, only two senators were in the room, including the bill's author, Senator Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola). Even the Chair of the Committee, Senator Joan Huffman, wasn't there and it looked like the room was still being set up. Click here to watch the hearing. Senator Hughes explained the original version of the bill more specifically states the discrimination can't happen based on a person's beliefs on marriage but said it would be amended to mirror Representative Krause's version. "You know, we have public hearings so that people can give testimony," said Representative Johnson about the Senate's action. "We have procedures in place to safeguard the public, give everyone, the members, the full opportunity to understand what they're voting on. And it's unfortunate that they chose to suspend the rules but they certainly have that right to do so." Representative Johnson and others say there are already laws prohibiting this type of discrimination, so the bill isn't needed. She added she intends to do what she can to keep the bill from coming back to the House floor. With just two weeks left in the legislative session, time is running out. The earliest SB1978 could be called up for a vote in the Senate is Wednesday. If the Senate passes the bill, it would have to be heard in a House committee by Saturday to be eligible for a vote in the lower chamber.<doc-sep>
A controversial bill intended to prevent the government from penalizing a person or business for actions tied to their religious belief has been quietly advanced in the Texas Senate, The Dallas Morning News reported. The proposal, often referred to as as the "Save Chick-fil-A" bill, failed to clear the Texas House last week, but was introduced to the Senate by state Sen. Bryan Hughes (R), according to the newspaper. Hughes said the bill would protect religious beliefs while preventing the targeting of companies such as Chick-fil-A, which was banned from San Antonio's airport in Texas after reports of donations made to anti-LGBT causes by a charity arm of the fast-food chain. "We've heard disturbing stories about folks being punished just because they choose to contribute to a religious organization that shares their views or values," Hughes said, according to the Dallas News. ADVERTISEMENT But critics of the bill say it would support anti-gay discrimination. The Texas Freedom Network, a group that supports religious freedom, slammed how Texas legislators were trying to get the bill passed through the state Senate. "Ramming this bill through doesn't change the fact that the majority of Texans oppose laws that allow the use of religion to hurt people simply because of who they are or whom they love," Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller said in a statement on Monday. The House version of the bill was introduced by Republican state Rep. Matt Krause. But last week, state Rep. Julie Johnson — who is a member of the Texas House LGBTQ Caucus — effectively killed the House bill using a procedural maneuver.