Anti-LGBT Group Removed From List Of Approved Charities For State Workers

A Mississippi-based Christian organization is being dropped from a list of approved charities for state employees after the group failed to provide a copy of its anti-discrimination policy.

State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, who began investigating the American Family Association in November after receiving a complaint from a state employee, said the group "appear[s] to encourage discrimination against the LGBTQ communities" and "it remains unclear what actual charitable services the AFA provides."

Timothy K. Newtown, chair of the Connecticut State Employee Campaign Committee, wrote to the group's president, Tim Wildmon, on Thursday notifying them they were being removed. The program allows state employees to direct payroll deductions to a charity of their choice.

"I am grateful for the committee's unanimous vote to remove AFA from the state charitable campaign – and I'm proud to live in a state that broadly prohibits discrimination, whether based on an individual's race, color, religion, age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, national origin, ancestry or disability," Lembo, who is openly gay, said in a written statement.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/politics/hc-american-family-association-removed-20170106-story.html