Equality for all
Federal law has long rightly prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, but sexual orientation and gender identity are not shielded, allowing fully legal exclusion of anyone in the LGBTQ spectrum in employment, public accommodations, education, housing, even credit and jury service.
Six years after the U.S. Supreme Court blessed same-sex marriages, more than half the country, 29 states, still permit discrimination against those married couples. The Equality Act, shepherded by Rep. Jerry Nadler, which passed the House Thursday, simply extends the protections to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. The opposition of all but three Republicans shames the GOP. Only New Yorkers John Katko and Tom Reed, along with Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick, did right. While Republicans wrongly argued that religious beliefs would be pushed aside by the Equality Act (the same arguments used against earlier civil rights bills) during the floor debate, there was a hallway debate the day before on the ground floor of the Longworth House Office Building.
Marie Newman, a freshmen Illinois Democrat, with a transgender daughter, “the strongest, bravest person I know,” took issue with the freshman across the hall, Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia QAnon kook, who called the bill “disgusting, evil, immoral.” Newman put up a transgender flag outside her office “so she can look at it every time she opens her door.”
Ever hateful, Greene then stuck a big sign on her side of the hallway saying: There are TWO genders: MALE & FEMALE “Trust The Science!” Another freshman on that corridor, St. Louis Democrat Cori Bush, already moved her office to flee Greene.
Greene isn’t alone in scorning. While the House debated the bill, Sen. Rand Paul was belittling Dr. Rachel Levine, Biden’s nominee to become assistant secretary for health. Levine is a transwoman, a qualified physician who was twice confirmed by the GOP Pennsylvania Senate, 49 to 0 and 49 to 1. Paul is an eye doctor who can’t see. The U.S. Senate must approve the basic right to be treated fairly.