‘March Against Discrimination’ in Philly Thursday takes aim at Trump

Hundreds of people are expected to take to the streets of Philadelphia on Thursday to protest against several of President Donald Trump’s executive orders they call discriminatory.

The March Against Discrimination starts at 6 p.m. outside the Fox 29 station in Old City, and will move down Market Street to City Hall.

The march was organized on Facebook, with the location chosen as “the local affiliate of Trump’s favorite television station,” the event page states. The protest is hosted by the Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club in conjunction with several civil rights groups, including Equality PA, the Pennsylvania chapter of Black Lives Matter, Jewish Voice for Peace and Black Gay Pride. State Rep. Brian Sims is also listed as a cosponsor of the event.

The demonstrators will rally against Trump’s executive orders that seek to penalize sanctuary cities, along with his efforts to build a wall along the United States-Mexico border, and actions to bar travelers and refugees from Muslim-majority nations from entering the country,

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“Philadelphians uniquely understand the importance of our bedrock values and the barriers that still exist in fully achieving them — we can’t go backwards,” according to the event description on Facebook. “We’ll stand together in solidarity, because love is love and hatred won’t stand in our city.”

The most recent controversy involves the draft of a document Trump is reportedly considering signing that would permit religious organizations receiving federal funds to terminate employees based on their beliefs. It would also permit federal employees to refuse their job duties if they conflict with their religious beliefs. The Center for Investigative Reporting obtained a copy of the draft.

The draft document states that the Constitution “ensures that Americans and their religious organizations will not be co-erced by the federal government into into participating in activities that violate their conscience.”

Such an issue arose in 2015, when a county clerk in Kentucky refused to issue a same-sex marriage license because of her religious beliefs, claiming at the time she was invoking “God’s authority.”