Illinois Religious Freedom Defense Act (SB 2164)

SB 2164 would prohibit discriminatory action from the state against a person who believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such marriage.

The bill defines “discriminatory action” to mean any action to:

• Alter in any way state tax treatment of an exemption from taxation under state law;
• Disallow a deduction for state tax purposes of any charitable contribution made to or by a person;
• Withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate, or otherwise deny any government grant, contract, subcontract, cooperative agreement, loan, license, certification, accreditation, employment, or other similar position or status from or to any person;
• Withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate, or otherwise deny any benefit from a state benefit program from or to any person; or
• Otherwise discriminate against any person.

The bill allows a person to assert a violation of this provision as a claim or defense in a judicial, agency, or other proceeding and obtain special damages, a declaratory judgment, or injunctive or other appropriate relief against a government.

The language of this bill would allow any person or entity a license to discriminate against not only same-sex couples and their children, but also anyone who has had sex outside of marriage.

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