Marriage and Religious Freedom Act

Marriage and Religious Freedom Act - Prohibits the federal government from taking an adverse action against a person on the basis that such person acts in accordance with a religious belief that: (1) marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or (2) sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.

Defines "adverse action" as any federal government action to discriminate against a person who is acting in accordance with such religious belief, including a federal government action to:

• deny or revoke certain tax exemptions or disallow a deduction of any charitable contribution made to or by such person;
• alter the federal tax treatment of, or cause any tax, penalty, or payment to be assessed against, such person or such person's employees with respect to any employee benefit provided or not provided by such person;
• deem an employee benefit plan covering employees of such person to have lost its status as a qualified plan under the Internal Revenue Code, or to be in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, because the plan fails to provide a benefit, right, or feature on account of such person's religious belief;
• deny or exclude such person from receiving any federal grant, contract, cooperative agreement, loan, license, certification, accreditation, employment, or similar position or status; or
• deny or withhold any benefit under a federal benefit program.

Permits a person to assert an actual or threatened violation of this Act as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and to obtain compensatory damages or other appropriate relief against the federal government.

Authorizes the Attorney General (DOJ) to bring actions against certain independent establishments of the executive branch (certain establishments in the executive branch, other than the U.S. Postal Service [USPS] and the Postal Regulatory Commission, that are not executive departments, military departments, or government corporations) to enforce this Act.

Specifies that the term "person" includes any person regardless of religious affiliation, as well as corporations and other entities regardless of for-profit or nonprofit status.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov