December 3, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Trump has now signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), at the G-20 summit in Argentina. It now goes to the Senate for ratification.

 

While the USMCA is an improvement over NAFTA, it must not be allowed to pass with “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in Articles 23.9 and 23.12(5)(l)(i).

 

Members of the House wrote a letter to President Trump, urging him to remove this troubling language. The letter, in part, states: “At the same time your Administration is carrying out a cohesive agenda regarding policies surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity, in the Department of Justice and Health and Human Services specifically, it is deeply troubling that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has included contradictory language in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.” The letter goes on to state: “A trade agreement is no place for the adoption of social policy. It is especially inappropriate and insulting to our sovereignty to needlessly submit to social policies which the United States Congress has so far explicitly refused to accept.” The Members of Congress “strongly” urges the President to remove Articles 23.9 and 23.12(5)(l)(i).

 

Articles 23.9 and 23.12(5)(l)(i) read: “Sex-Based Discrimination in the Workplace: The Parties recognize the goal of eliminating sex-based discrimination in employment and occupation, and support the goal of promoting equality of women in the workplace. Accordingly, each Party shall implement policies that protect workers against employment discrimination on the basis of sex, including with regard to pregnancy, sexual harassment, sexual orientation, gender identity, and caregiving responsibilities, provide job-protected leave for birth or adoption of a child and care of family members, and protect against wage discrimination” (emphasis added).

 

These sections would establish special rights for sexual orientation and gender identity as the supreme law of the land via the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. If Articles 23.9 and 23.12(5)(l)(i) are ratified, the treaty would elevate “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as special rights to the highest level and thus be used to determine the outcome of cases inconsistent with existing law and legal precedent. To include this language in the trade agreement would circumvent the proper legislative process for determining matters regarding the redefinition of “sex” to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in federal law and will provide direct conflict with many existing laws, precedent, and religious liberty and conscience rights.

 

“The proposed trade agreement must not include a social mandate regarding policies surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity,” said Mat Staver, Chairman of Liberty Counsel Action. “The LGBT provision is a Trojan horse that must not be included in any trade agreement. The Senate must oppose this proposed trade agreement with the current LGBT provision in Articles 23.9 and 23.12(5)l(i),” said Staver.

 

Add your name to Liberty Counsel Action’s petition demanding these provisions be removed.  

Liberty Counsel Action is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, grassroots organization advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, the family, limited and responsible government, national security, and support for Israel.

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