Democrats in both chambers of Congress on Wednesday resurrected a proposal to extend federal nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ Americans, vowing to pass the landmark civil rights legislation that in the past has failed to garner enough bipartisan support.
The Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, economic status, sex and national origin, to further prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.
House and Senate Democrats on Wednesday said the legislation is necessary to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination against the backdrop of rising anti-LGBTQ violence, rhetoric and policies.
“We are filing this bill during Pride Month, a time of celebration but also an opportunity to reflect on a time when being out was nearly impossible,” Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), the bill’s primary sponsor in the House and one of 12 openly LGBTQ lawmakers in Congress, said during a news conference.
“We cannot allow extremists in our country to once again normalize homophobia and attacks on LGBTQ people,” Takano said in a reference to hundreds of state-level bills filed this year that target the LGBTQ community. “We can’t turn away from the discrimination that still exists for so many LGBTQ people today.”
There is currently no federal law that explicitly prohibits anti-LGBTQ discrimination, and a majority of states do not explicitly protect LGBTQ residents from bias or inequity in key areas of life.
Laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation in areas such as housing and public accommodations exist in less than half of U.S. states, according to the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks state legislation and policies that impact the rights of LGBTQ Americans.
When it comes to employment, just 23 states and Washington, D.C., have adopted laws that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ civil rights group, and only 10 states have adopted policies that explicitly address anti-LGBTQ hate or bias crimes.
“There is a dizzying patchwork of protections for LGBTQ+ people across this country,” Kelley Robinson, HRC’s president, said Wednesday during a Senate hearing on LGBTQ rights. HRC earlier this month declared a national state of emergency for LGBTQ people for the time in its 40-year history, citing the passage of more than 75 laws that target the community.
“This bill is simple,” Takano said during Wednesday’s news conference. “It provides for full personhood under the law.”
House and Senate Democrats have pushed for the passage of the Equality Act during every Congress since 2015. While the bill passed the House in both 2019 and 2021, when the chamber was controlled by Democrats, success is less likely this year with a Republican majority.
But this year’s Equality Act may see its first victory in the Senate, where Democrats have a slim majority. A Senate companion bill was also introduced Wednesday, by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).
Democrats on Wednesday pointed to last year’s Respect for Marriage Act, which passed both chambers with bipartisan support, as an indicator that Congress may finally get the Equality Act across the finish line this year.
“The fight for LGBTQ+ rights has been long, but we have made unmistakable progress in the fight towards true equality,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said Wednesday. “Just a decade ago, passing marriage equality and the Respect for Marriage Act with a dozen Republican senators on our side would have been unthinkable.”
“We defied political gravity,” she said.