Bill Lee: “reserving the right to object, I first want to note that it has been suggested that there is only one objection to Chai…”

“reserving the right to object, I first want to note that it has been suggested that there is only one objection to Chai Feldblum's nomination to the EEOC. That is not true. I am among those objectors; I am not the lone objector. My objection to this nominee relates to my belief and religious freedom. You see, religious freedom is very important to me. I am the descendant of people who were ordered exterminated by the Governor of Missouri on October 27, 1837. Religious intolerance cannot be tolerated in this country, and I see a growing wave of religious intolerance. I see a growing wave of sentiment of people suggesting that on the basis of people's religious beliefs, they can be subject to adverse government decisionmaking. Ms. Feldblum has written that she sees a conflict between religious belief and LGBT liberty as ``a zero-sum game'' where ``a gain for one side necessarily entails a corresponding loss for the other side.'' I see no reason why that should be the case, and I think that is fundamentally incompatible with our Nation's long tradition of pluralism and religious freedom. Make no mistake--there is no mystery about which side Ms. Feldblum thinks should win. In a separate speech, she said: ``There can be a conflict between religious liberty and sexual liberty, but in almost all cases, the sexual liberty should win. . . .…”