II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1808 

To prevent adverse treatment of any person on the basis of views held 

with respect to marriage. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 12 (legislative day, DECEMBER 11), 2013 

Mr. LEE (for himself, Mr. VITTER, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. COBURN, 

Mr. RUBIO, Mr. HATCH, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. WICKER, Mr. RISCH, Mr. GRAHAM, and Mr. COCHRAN) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prevent adverse treatment of any person on the basis 

of views held with respect to marriage. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Marriage and Religious 

5 Freedom Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Leading legal scholars concur that conflicts 

2 between same-sex marriage and religious liberty are 

3 real and should be legislatively addressed. 

4 (2) As the President stated in response to the 

5 decision of the Supreme Court on the Defense of 

6 Marriage Act in 2013, ‘‘Americans hold a wide 

7 range of views’’ on the issue of same-sex marriage, 

8 and ‘‘maintaining our Nation’s commitment to reli9 gious freedom’’ is ‘‘vital’’. 

10 (3) Protecting religious freedom from Govern11 ment intrusion is a Government interest of the high12 est order. Legislatively enacted measures advance 

13 this interest by remedying, deterring, and preventing 

14 Government interference with religious exercise in a 

15 way that complements the protections mandated by 

16 the First Amendment to the Constitution of the 

17 United States. 

18 (4) Laws that protect the free exercise of reli19 gious beliefs about marriage will encourage private 

20 citizens and institutions to demonstrate similar tol21 erance and therefore contribute to a more respectful, 

22 diverse, and peaceful society. 


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1 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF THE FREE EXERCISE OF RELI2 GIOUS BELIEFS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other law to 

4 the contrary, the Federal Government shall not take an 

5 adverse action against a person, wholly or partially on the 

6 basis that such person acts in accordance with a religious 

7 belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the 

8 union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations 

9 are properly reserved to such a marriage. 

10 (b) ADVERSE ACTION DEFINED.—As used in sub11 section (a), an adverse action means any action taken by 

12 the Federal Government to— 

13 (1) deny or revoke an exemption from taxation 

14 under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code 

15 of 1986 of the person who is acting in accordance 

16 with the religious belief referred to in subsection (a); 

17 (2) disallow a deduction for Federal tax pur18 poses of any charitable contribution made to or by 

19 such person; 

20 (3) alter in any way the Federal tax treatment 

21 of, or cause any tax, penalty, or payment to be as22 sessed against, such person or such person’s employ23 ees with respect to any benefit provided or not pro24 vided by such person to such person’s employees, 

25 wholly or partially on the basis that the benefit is 


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1 provided or not provided on account of a religious 

2 belief referred to in subsection (a); 

3 (4) deem any employee benefit plan covering 

4 employees of such person to have lost its status as 

5 a ‘‘qualified plan’’ under section 401(a) of the Inter6 nal Revenue Code of 1986, or to be in violation of 

7 any part of the Employee Retirement Income Secu8 rity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), wholly or 

9 partially on the basis that the benefit plan fails to 

10 provide a benefit, right, or feature on account of 

11 such person’s religious belief referred to in sub12 section (a); 

13 (5) deny or exclude such person from receiving 

14 any Federal grant, contract, cooperative agreement, 

15 loan, license, certification, accreditation, employ16 ment, or other similar position or status; 

17 (6) deny or withhold from such person any ben18 efit under a Federal benefit program; or 

19 (7) otherwise discriminate against such person. 

20 SEC. 4. JUDICIAL RELIEF. 

21 (a) CAUSE OF ACTION.—A person may assert an ac22 tual or threatened violation of this Act as a claim or de23 fense in a judicial proceeding and obtain compensatory 

24 damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or any other 

25 appropriate relief against the Federal Government. StandVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:37 Dec 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808

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1 ing to assert a claim or defense under this section shall 

2 be governed by the general rules of standing under Article 

3 III of the Constitution. 

4 (b) ATTORNEYS’ FEES.—Section 722(b) of the Re5 vised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended by insert6 ing ‘‘the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act,’’ after ‘‘the 

7 Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 

8 2000,’’. 

9 (c) AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES TO ENFORCE

10 THIS ACT.—The Attorney General may bring an action 

11 for injunctive or declaratory relief against an independent 

12 establishment described in section 104(1) of title 5, United 

13 States Code, or an officer or employee of that independent 

14 establishment, to enforce compliance with this Act. Noth15 ing in this subsection shall be construed to deny, impair, 

16 or otherwise affect any right or authority of the Attorney 

17 General, the United States, or any agency, officer, or em18 ployee of the United States, acting under any law other 

19 than this subsection, to institute or intervene in any pro20 ceeding. 

21 SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

22 (a) BROAD CONSTRUCTION.—This Act shall be con23 strued in favor of a broad protection of religious beliefs 

24 described in section 3, to the maximum extent permitted 

25 by the terms of this Act and the Constitution. 


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1 (b) NO PREEMPTION, REPEAL, OR NARROW CON2 STRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to 

3 preempt State law, or repeal Federal law, that is equally 

4 as protective of religious beliefs as, or more protective of 

5 religious beliefs than, this Act. Nothing in this Act shall 

6 be considered to narrow the meaning or application of any 

7 other State or Federal law protecting religious beliefs. 

8 (c) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 

9 any application of such provision to any person or cir10 cumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 

11 of this Act and the application of the provision to any 

12 other person or circumstance shall not be affected. 

13 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act: 

15 (1) FEDERAL BENEFIT PROGRAM.—The term 

16 ‘‘Federal benefit program’’ has the meaning given 

17 that term in section 552a of title 5, United States 

18 Code. 

19 (2) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘Fed20 eral Government’’ includes each authority of any 

21 branch of the Government of the United States. 

22 (3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means a per23 son as defined in section 1 of title 1, United States 

24 Code, and includes any such person regardless of reVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:37 Dec 14, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808

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1 ligious affiliation or lack thereof, and regardless of 

2 for-profit or nonprofit status. 

Æ 


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