Gay right group withdraw support of Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) After Hobby Lobby Decision.

Gay rights groups withdraw support of ENDA after Hobby Lobby decision.
Gay rights advocate Vin Testa waves a rainbow flag in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on June 26.
Several major gay rights groups withdrew support Tuesday for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would bolster gay and transgender rights in the workplace, saying they fear that broad religious exemptions included in the current bill might compel private companies to begin citing objections similar to those that prevailed in a U.S. Supreme Court case last week.
The gay community is a key constituency and source of campaign donations for Democrats, and calls to rewrite the most significant gay rights legislation considered in recent years is a major setback for the White House, which had used passage of the legislation last fall as a way to draw a contrast with House Republicans, who have refused to vote on the measure.
But the groups said they can no longer back ENDA as currently written in light of the Supreme Court’s decision last week to strike down a key part of President Obama’s health-care law. The court ruled that family-owned businesses do not have to offer their employees contraceptive coverage that conflicts with the owners’ religious beliefs.
The “Hobby Lobby case,” was led by Hobby Lobby, an arts-and-crafts chain that co-founder David Green has said is run on biblical principles, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Pennsylvania cabinetmaking company owned by a Mennonite family.
Signs of crumbling support for ENDA came first Tuesday from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, one of several gay rights group that has aggressively pushed Obama to expand gay rights through executive action since the start of his presidency.