Photo: Teeman, T. (2021, February 25)

Stephanie Logue

Staff Writer

szl1414@psu.edu

The House passed the Equality Act on Thursday, February 25th. A groundbreaking LGBTQ rights bill that explicitly bans discrimination that includes employment, housing, education, public accommodation, credit and jury service, based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“The LGBTQ community has waited long enough,” Rep. David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island, who introduced the bill said, “The time has come to extend the blessings of liberty and equality to all Americans, regardless of who they are or who they love.” 

The 224-206 vote was overwhelmingly partisan, with only three Republicans in favor of the legislation.  A similar measure was introduced in the Senate on Tuesday, February 23rd, where it faces an uphill struggle, as it needs a 60-vote threshold to circumvent a filibuster.

However, the bill now has the blessing of the White House. President Joe Biden said during his campaign that passing the Equality Act would be a priority in his first 100 days in office.

 “Today’s vote is a major milestone for equality bringing us closer to ensuring that every person is treated equally under the law,” Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a statement. “Now, the ball is in the Senate’s court to pass the Equality Act and finally allow LGBTQ Americans the ability to live their lives free from discrimination.” 

The act reforms the 1964 Federal Civil Rights Act, which shields against sexual orientation and identity related discrimination. Cicilline has presented it every year since 2015. By a vote of 236-173, including eight Republicans, it first passed the House in 2019 but failed to get a hearing in the GOP-dominated Senate. 

Rivals argue that the bill would affect the rights of the First Amendment, specifically free speech and religious rights. A conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, warned on its website that the Equality Act would, “require employers and employees to comply with new sexual standards or else risk their companies and jobs.”

The Foundation also envisioned that the trans-community rights of the act will pressure and compel physicians to act, “against their best medical judgment and offer transition-affirming treatments” and fuel prejudice against cisgender women athletes.

“Females of all ages can expect to lose more and more opportunities … to biological males who have a natural advantage in sports and physical activities,” the group said. “The Equality Act would defeat the entire purpose of Title IX, which was meant to ensure that women would have the same opportunities as men including in sports, and would leave women vulnerable to sexual assault.”

When the House bill was presented, Biden affirmed his support last week, calling it “a critical step toward ensuring that America lives up to our foundational values of equality and freedom for all.”

Biden also expressed strongly that, “Full equality has been denied to LGBTQ+ Americans and their families for far too long. The Equality Act provides long overdue federal civil rights protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity … codifying the courage and resilience of the LGBTQ+ movement into enduring law.”

Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office ordering federal agencies to incorporate the Bostock decision of the Supreme Court and to enforce all legislation preventing sex discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity as well.

Last October, Biden told Gay News publisher Mark Segal in Philadelphia that passing the Equality Act would guarantee that “no future president can ever again roll back civil rights and protections for LGBTQ+ individuals.” 

Biden also stated, “Too many states do not have laws that explicitly protect LGBTQ+ individuals from discrimination. It’s wrong to deny people access to services or housing because of who they are or who they love.”