Sam Brownback issues order to keep anti-LGBT discrimination alive and well in Kansas

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback became the latest GOP governor Tuesday to issue a "religious refusal" executive order that protects individuals and groups with religious objections to same-sex marriage. Caitlin MacNeal reports:

The order keeps the government from taking action against officials and organizations "on the basis that such person or organization believes or sincerely acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman."

Brownback's order aims to protect religious leaders who perform marriages and religious groups that provide adoption services, according to the Wichita Eagle.

First of all, clergy cannot and will not be forced to perform same-sex marriages against their religious beliefs. They are already exempt from the ruling.

The adoption issue is separate and will almost certainly invite a legal challenge since many if not most religious organizations that provide adoption services receive government (i.e. taxpayer) funds to do so.

Here's the ACLU's response to Brownback:

"As a result of Executive Order 15-05, a homeless shelter that received a state contract or grant could refuse family housing to a gay couple with a child, or a foster care agency could refuse to place a child in their custody with the child’s family member just because the family member was in a same-sex relationship – and the state could not require them to treat all families equally," Kansas ACLU Executive Director Micah Kubic said in a statement. "In addition, singling out just one form of religious beliefs about marriage poses serious constitutional concerns."

GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a similar order just after the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

"The law protects religious liberty not only in houses of worship—but also in schools, in businesses, in the military, in public forums, and in the town square. These protections are afforded to all people, of all faiths," Abbott wrote in the directive.

Except that it doesn't mean government employees (i.e. clerks) have the right to disobey a U.S. Supreme Court order by refusing to issue marriage licenses. A Texas clerk already tried that. As soon as she was sued, she wisely capitulated. Just a guess that someone with some grasp of the law let her know she was on the losing end of a long and potentially expensive battle.