Equality Act about updating civil rights
House to vote on bill to add LGBTQ protections
WASHINGTON – The House on Thursday is set to pass sweeping legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, though it faces an uncertain future in the Senate.
The Equality Act would amend existing federal civil rights laws to extend protections for LGBTQ Americans in what Democratic lawmakers and advocates say would make significant progress toward legal protections for all Americans. It is one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities.
Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., said he was “excited” to see the likely passage of the bill in the House.
Nine members of the House openly identify as LGBTQ and two in the Senate, amounting to about 2% of each chamber. A recent Gallup Poll showed a record 5.6% of U.S. adults identified as LGBTQ.
The legislation amends civil rights laws such as the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which had banned discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion and national origin, to include protections on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. It also would prohibit such discrimination in public places, on transportation and in government-funded programs.
Although many states have enacted anti-discrimination laws, advocates such as the Human Rights Campaign argue that today’s “patchwork” of laws across states leaves LGBTQ Americans vulnerable to discrimination.
The Supreme Court’s ruling last June in the case Bostock v. Clay County extended workplace protections to LGBTQ Americans, but groups such as the National Women’s Law Center say the legislation would codify the court’s decision and create explicit federal protections for LGBTQ Americans beyond the workplace.
The House passed a similar bill in May 2019, but it died in the then-Republican-controlled Senate. Eight Republicans voted for it in 2019, though no Republicans have co-sponsored this year’s version of the legislation.
House Republican leaders are recommending a vote against the legislation, but they aren’t pushing members on the decision, calling it a “vote of conscience,” according to a House Republican leadership aide not authorized to speak on the record.
The White House says it supports the bill, and Biden has pledged to sign it into law in his first 100 days in office.
Some conservatives have expressed concerns that the legislation could infringe upon religious liberty or lead to inequality in athletic competitions if transgender women compete against cisgender women. The conservative Heritage Foundation, which opposes the bill, says it could threaten religious freedoms, give transgender athletes an unfair advantage and harm constitutional freedoms.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who opposes the legislation, disrupted a procedural debate over the measure on Wednesday, drawing the ire of Democrats. Rep. Marie Newman, D-Ill., whose office sits across from Greene’s, put a transgender flag outside her office “so she can look at it every time she opens her door.”
The bill would face an uncertain future in the Senate, which is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democratic caucus members, with Vice President Kamala Harris in a tiebreaking role. It would need at least 10 Republicans to vote with all Democrats to advance the bill past a filibuster.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who introduced the Senate’s version of the bill, said he wanted the Senate to act in a “bipartisan fashion” as they had with other legislation ending forms of discrimination in the workplace.