From a related thread …
More specifically, while Christians are complaining that their 1st Amendment protections are being trampled on, they’re not pointing out that Section 1 of 14th Amendment prohibits the states as well from abridging their constitutionally enumerated protections.
14th Amendment, Section 1:All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States [emphasis added]; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Note that the “privileges or immunities” term which John Bingham, the main author of Section 1, used in that section is just another way to refer to constitutionally enumerated rights, most of these well-known rights, including 1st Amendment-protected freedom of religious expression, listed in the Bill of Rights.
In fact, the states have never amended the Constitution to expressly protect LGBT issues. So citizens who value their freedom of religious expression need to learn to argue the following. Pro-gay activist states are unthinkingly using equal protections policies to bully Christians in the name of protecting constitutionally unprotected gay “rights.”
Thanks in advance for your answers.