Trump reportedly planning executive order declaring samesex marriage to be wrong
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The Donald Trump administration is preparing to enshrine specific religious beliefs in executive policy—including that premarital sex is wrong, that marriage "is or should be recognised" as between a man and a woman, that life begins at conception and that the words "male and female" refer to "immutable biological sex" assigned at birth.
A leaked document that purports to be a new executive order claims to "respect religious freedom" and appears to reflect conservative Christian and Catholic beliefs. If signed, it will seek to shield people or organisations receiving federal funds that espouse and act on such beliefs, even if they are made in the course of their employment or contract, from punitive government action. It is likely to worry the country's LGBT community, which has fought for protection from discrimination.
The draft order seeks to protect the tax-exempt status of organisations that propound those beliefs, as well as to block "adverse action" against groups that discriminate, on religious grounds, in the provision of adoption and fostering services. White House spokesman Sean Spicer declined to get "ahead of the executive orders that we may or may not issue". "We have nothing on that front now," he added.
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