Equality Act a ‘Monumental Gesture of Overreach’ – CT Examiner

In the name of equality Joe Courtney has single handedly led an assault on young girls, at-risk mothers, religious institutions and on each and every voter from Groton to Vernon, from Connecticut to California. In a monumental gesture of overreach, Representative Joe Courtney co-sponsored one of the most destructive and dangerous legislations in decades.

Representative Courtney wants to add Gender Identity to the wording of the 2019 Equality Act legislation. Sounds benign, doesnt it? Nobody wants to see discrimination against any group.

But here is what Americans are not being told. The current Equality Act, as co-sponsored by Joe Courtney, will destroy opportunities for young girls, create unsafe environments for homeless and abused Mothers and their daughters, diminish our parental rights, and force business owners and religious institutions to conform to government defined norms.

H.R.5 adds Gender Identity as a protected class and will compel athletic institutions with sports ranging from girls softball and field hockey to track and field, from the youth level to high school to professional sports to allow biological males to compete, side by side, with young girls. Imagine a 220lb male on the Pomfret womens field hockey team?

What will Joe say to a female athlete who trains relentlessly to compete in sport only to lose a championship and the chance to break school records to a biological male? If you dont think this could happen, it has, right here in Connecticut. Imagine the demoralization of Seana Soule not just losing the CT State Championships in Track & Field but also losing the scholarship opportunities that disappeared that day. In one

stroke of the pen Joe Courtney will have destroyed decades of equality for women under Title IX. Girl sports under the Equality Act will cease to exist.

Joe Courtneys new definition of Equality affects more than female athletes. At risk mothers and their daughters seeking sanctuary from abusive domestic partners will find no peace of mind in shelters like New Londons http://www.safefuturesct.org. Biological males will have full access to womens shelters, bathrooms, living quarters because these facilities will be compelled by Joe Courtneys law to let men in if they identify as female. Really? Dont believe it? Read the incredible story from Anchorage, Alaska.

The risks do not end with the horrific problems described above. Parental rights can be forfeited for blocking a child from hormone therapy. Churches and religious institutions will be forced to comply with government mandates on Gender Ideology that are in direct conflict with their beliefs and teachings. Teachers can be fired for not conforming to the proper pronoun usage. Business owners will face new minefields of political correctness that will cost time and money they can ill aord.

While the citizens of Eastern Connecticut work to rebuild lives torn apart by the Pandemic, getting businesses on track, returning to school, restoring normalcy to their lives, Representative Courtney has different priorities. Instead of rebuilding our fragile society, Joe Courtney is ripping it apart in ways that diminish family, social norms, and the safety of the most vulnerable.

We must all speak out to Congressmen Courtney and remind him that he works for all of us not the progressives with revolutionary theories of societal norms. All citizens must tell Joe that the Equality Act is not about equality, and is not the right direction for our state and country.

Dominic RapiniBranford, CT

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Equality Act a 'Monumental Gesture of Overreach' - CT Examiner