Advocates Seek LGBT Training for Health Aides
Bills S.2534-Rivera and Bill A.1880-A-Dinowitz would require home health aides, personal care aides, personal care staff, and certified nursing aides to receive training on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity as part of the state certification and re-certification processes. The mandated training would include explanations of terms like “queer,” “asexual,” “gender non-conforming,” and “non-binary,”…
Christian Professor Receives Settlement in Free Speech Case
In light of the recent outcome of a First Amendment lawsuit, public universities may want to think twice before they impose “transgender” speech codes upon members of their faculty. On April 14, 2022, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced that Professor Nicholas Meriwether’s lawsuit against his employer, Shawnee State University in Ohio, had settled. CBS News…
Suffolk County Legislator Fleming Seeks To Censor Public Prayer
A member of the Suffolk County Legislature has proposed a rules change that would place unconstitutional limits on prayers at public meetings. Like many other government entities, the Suffolk County Legislature opens its meetings with prayer. Within the past year, two prayers offered by Roman Catholic priests at meetings of the Suffolk County Legislature included…
Biden Administration To Rescind Conscience Rule
On April 19, 2022, Politico reported that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to roll back the Conscience Rights in Health Care Rule. A new regulation rescinding the rule may be released by the end of the month. Finalized in May 2019, the Conscience Rights in Health Care Rule was designed…
Some Legislators Seek Socialized Medicine
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms supports policies that preserve religious liberty. For our 2022 Digital Day of Action, our religious liberty agenda is focused on blocking the proposed New York Health Act (S.5474-Rivera/A.6058-Gottfried). The New York Health Act would kick every New Yorker off of his or her health insurance and impose a government-controlled program…
Hochul’s Budget Proposal Compels Abortion Coverage
Unfortunately, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s enthusiasm for abortion has found its way into her 2022-2023 state budget proposal. The budget bill pertaining to health and mental hygiene (Bill S.8007-A-Budget/Bill A.9007-A-Budget) would require New York health insurance policies to cover abortion. Furthermore, the bill would require that the abortion coverage not be subject to coinsurance, copayments, or…
“Fairness For All” Sponsors Drop Support
In a victory for common sense and decency, several Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives have withdrawn their support from the misleadingly-named Fairness for All Act. The Fairness for All Act (H.R. 1440) is a Republican-sponsored pro-LGBT bill that has been marketed as a compromise measure. According to its advocates, the bill would…
NYCF Shares March Prayer Needs
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms invites our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout New York to lift the following prayer requests to the Lord in the month of March: That the Lord would heal those New Yorkers who are afflicted with COVID-19 and end this pandemic; That the Lord would bless our upcoming Digital Day…
Mask Mandate Mostly Lifted, But School Mandate Stays
On February 9, 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the statewide mask mandate for indoor public places would be lifted effective February 10. Gov. Hochul stated that the decision to lift the mask mandate was driven by decreasing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. According to the Albany Times Union, mask mandates affecting transportation hubs, nursing homes,…
Hochul’s Health Department Considers Controversial Regs
Under the leadership of Gov. Kathy Hochul, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) is considering adopting several regulations pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed regulations have prompted a great deal of public concern due to their encroachments upon personal and religious liberty. In recent days, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms has issued…
Take Action At NYCF’s Legislative Action Center
Once upon a time, and not so very long ago, the website of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms did not include a feature that allowed voters to communicate directly with elected officials. In those days, when we wanted to encourage voters to e-mail their state legislators in opposition to same-sex “marriage,” we had to ask…
Hochul Wants Vaccine Mandate For School Attendance
Gov. Kathy Hochul angered many New Yorkers on December 10, 2021 when she announced that the New York State Department of Health had instituted a new statewide mask mandate for indoor public places. Undaunted, Gov. Hochul recently stated that she wants to go even further by imposing a statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate in schools. In…
Biden’s Vaccine Mandates To See Supreme Court Challenge
On December 22, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States announced that oral arguments would be held on January 7, 2022 regarding legal challenges to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. This past November, the Biden administration imposed employee vaccination mandates on two huge swaths of the American economy. The first mandate—the large employer…
New York’s January Prayer Needs
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms invites our friends and supporters to lift the following requests before the Lord in the month of January: That the Lord would protect the State of New York against the passage of unwise or evil laws in 2022, and that He would empower His people to speak out boldly for…
The 2021 Legislative Session In Review
As we look back at events affecting New York politics and policy in 2021, Christian New Yorkers have a great deal to be thankful for. While New Yorkers have experienced great difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic, and while some of those difficulties were made worse by onerous government mandates, we can be thankful that the…
SCOTUS Rejects Health Care Workers’ Religious Exemption Request
On December 13, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States found the State of New York’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for health care workers to be constitutional despite its lack of a religious exemption. Because of the Court’s ruling, health care workers in New York with religious objections to COVID-19 vaccination will be required to…