Religious leaders demand exemptions

The Obama Administration’s plan to ban corporations that contract with the federal Government from discriminating against gays and lesbians is meeting religious resistance.

A group of prominent religious leaders has published an open letter to the President urging him to include robust exemptions to the proposed rules for religious organisations. The new rules would require federal contractors to extend same-sex partner ­benefits to employees, amongst other stipulations.

Among the signatories of the letter were pastor Joel Hunter, whom President Barack Obama has described as a spiritual adviser, and The Catholic University’s Professor Stephen Schneck, who co-chaired “Catholics for Obama” during the 2012 presidential campaign.