Dear Friends,

We have an urgent request for your help.

The Utah House Health and Human Services Committee has voted to advance a bill that would allow biological boys and men to compete in sports with biological girls and women. The bill specifically says that a biological male can compete in female athletics if he has undergone one year of “hormone treatment,” a term the bill does not even define. This puts women’s and girls’ sports in Utah in great danger.

We need your help to prevent that.

In recent weeks, we have seen the stories about an Ivy League man dominating women’s swimming events. He has  broken women’s records and taken the place of deserving women on the winners’ platform – all because he retains advantages as a biological male, even after receiving hormone treatment. Stories like this one have shown up at all levels of women’s sports. Many parents across the country are now rightly concerned for their daughters’ sports scholarships and educational opportunities.

That is the future in Utah if the House votes “Yes” on H.B. 11, and we need you to send a message to your representative  urging that they reject H.B. 11 to ensure that female athletes in Utah will not have to compete against biological males.

You can help ensure the playing field is level for girls’ sports by sending a message to your representative today  – it only takes a moment in our Action Center.

Now is the time to speak up to protect girls’ sports in Utah!

Sincerely,

Joseph Kohm III
Director, Public Policy

Yes, it’s the first Tuesday of November in an odd-numbered year.  That means, for the most part, elections that are dominated by local bond measures, county commissioner contests and other lower-profile races.  All are good reasons to get out and vote—and these races, especially for school board, can make the most difference right in your area for your family—but most are not headline grabbers beyond their local area.

Still, Election Day 2017 does offer some nationally impactful races to keep an eye on as election results roll in on Tuesday evening.

Most of the national limelight is on Virginia, where voters will choose a new governor.  With liberal Gov. Terry McAuliffe on his way out, voters will choose between Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie.  Northam fashions himself as a moderate, though his record as Terry McAuliffe’s Lieutenant Governor would say otherwise.  And, in the final days of the campaign, Gillespie has closed within striking distance by pointing that out.

Virginia is also home to a high-profile Attorney General race that has attracted major outside spending.  In the final weeks, Family Policy Alliance’s allied organization in Virginia, The Family Foundation Action, has focused voters’ attention on the scandalously pro-abortion record of the Democrat incumbent, Mark Herring.

Herring stunned many observers by issuing an opinion that set aside Virginia’s statutory rape and mandatory reporting laws when it came to abortion clinics. That allowed Virginia abortion centers to avoid reporting many likely statutory rapes of 13- and 14-year-old girls.  Even worse, the abortion center that precipitated the opinion is located in an area that has major problems with sex trafficking – meaning that, in many cases, sexual predators are the ultimate beneficiary of Herring’s pro-abortion ruling.

Elsewhere, voters in New Jersey will elect a new governor to replace outgoing Gov. Chris Christie.  And voters in Utah’s Third Congressional District will choose a replacement for the retiring Jason Chaffetz.

Among the most important local races is the school board election in Douglas County, Colorado, which has become ground zero in the nationwide fight for parental choice in education.

A six-year effort to enact a modest voucher program has been stuck in the courts, but a U.S. Supreme Court directive this year gave new hope that the program will survive the legal challenge.  Yet even with a favorable legal outcome, the survival of the school choice program is likely to be determined by the results of Tuesday’s school board elections.

So what’s the point? The point is..during an election year where there’s not a big, showy presidential race driving everyone to the polls, these local elections give voters who care about the value of life, family, and religious freedom an opportunity to shape what their school, city, state and ultimately country look like for their families!

Please join our team in wearing your “I voted” sticker proudly today!

With just a few more weeks left in office, President Obama is vowing to veto a bill that would protect the religious freedoms of those who contract with the federal government.

Each year, the senate considers the renewal of the National Defense Authorization Act. The bill includes funding for the entire Department of Defense. Under language in the bill, people of faith would not have to forfeit their religious liberties just because they choose to contract with the federal government.

“Obama would compel religious organizations to hire people who do not share the organization’s religious beliefs,” said Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch. “It’s difficult to imagine a position more at odds with our heritage of religious freedom.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives approved their version of the bill that contains strong religious freedom protections. The senate will soon do the same.

Autumn Leva, policy director for Family Policy Alliance, said it appears the President wants to make his point one more time before leaving office.

“This boils down to the President, the Commander in Chief,” she said, “threatening to cut funding to those who fight, and at times die, to protect our freedoms, because he doesn’t want to protect religious freedom for Americans. Can anything be more un-American?”

TAKE ACTION
Contact the White House and ask President Obama to please sign the National Defense Authorization bill that contains religious freedom protections.

 

 

 

Florida Governor urged to sign HB 1411 bill into law.

The Florida Legislature passed HB 1411, a bill that cuts state funding to abortion facilities, including Planned Parenthood.

If signed into law, the money that would have gone to Planned Parenthood now goes to hundreds of deserving low-cost community health clinics and women’s health centers.

“Republicans in the Florida Legislature are to be commended,” said John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, “for showing leadership and for doing the right thing by passing this historic piece of legislation.”

The bill now goes to Gov. Rick Scott for his signature. If signed, Florida would join Texas, Utah, Kansas, New Hampshire, Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana in defunding Planned Parenthood.

“On behalf of thousands of Floridians who object to their taxes going to fund Planned Parenthood,” Stemberger said, “I continue to urge Gov. Scott to sign this good bill into law.”