“Religious freedom is a bedrock of our country. Gov. Brownback’s executive order panders to the false notion that clergy and religious organizations will be stripped of their First Amendment rights,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “Having nothing to do with religious freedom and everything to do with enabling discrimination, this executive order is divisive, unnecessary, and sends the wrong message. It places legally married same-sex couples at risk of having religious organizations, such as many hospitals, refuse to recognize their marriage while hampering the state government's ability to address the problem. ”

In February, Gov. Brownback also astonishingly rescinded an executive order signed by former Governor Kathleen Sebelius in 2007 that provided workplace non-discrimination protections to LGBT state employees.

According to BuzzFeed News, under Gov. Brownback's failed leadership, the state is still also failing to recognize legal same-sex marriages for the purposes of tax considerations.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. HRC envisions a world where LGBT people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

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