Democrats Reintroduce The Equality Act | EUROtoday

Several Congressional Democrats reintroduced the Equality Act on Tuesday, resurrecting a decades-long effort to enshrine anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans in federal regulation.

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) introduced the laws at a press convention Tuesday morning and described the significance of prohibiting discrimination on the premise of sexual orientation and gender id in public lodging, housing, schooling, banking and employment.

“As MAGA extremists attack the rights and freedoms of our LGBTQ+ friends and neighbors, I am fighting to end this hateful discrimination, expand freedom, and open the doors of opportunity for everyone,” Merkley mentioned in a press release to HuffPost. More than 600 LGBTQ+ and different civil rights advocacy organizations have signaled their assist.

Only 21 states explicitly bar discrimination on the premise of each gender id and sexual orientation in housing and public lodging, in keeping with an evaluation of state laws from The Movement Advancement Project.

Democrats mentioned the Equality Act, which might lengthen federal protections to LGBTQ+ Americans throughout the nation, will not be solely lengthy overdue however extra essential now as Trump has enacted dozens of insurance policies that concentrate on trans Americans.

“We reintroduce this bill against the backdrop of a president who, in his very campaign, singled out the trans community with opportunistic bigotry,” Booker mentioned on the press convention. “We stand here at a time when LGBTQ Americans are being targeted and singled out.”

If handed, the Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to incorporate protections in opposition to discrimination based mostly on intercourse and gender id, which might lengthen to transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals in addition to pregnant individuals.

Democrats first launched a model of the Equality Act in 1974 that solely addressed discrimination based mostly on sexual orientation. In 2015, Merkley and former Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) expanded the laws to explicitly embody gender id.

The House of Representatives has handed variations of the Equality Act in earlier years, together with in 2019, with the assist of eight Republicans, however the laws has repeatedly stalled within the Senate.

Now, with a Republican-controlled Congress and Trump again in workplace, Democrats face an excellent steeper problem. But they’re cautiously optimistic that their colleagues throughout the aisle will see the significance of extending protections to all Americans.

Takano instructed reporters he was stunned by the variety of Republicans who voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, which codified protections for same-sex and interracial marriage, following the Supreme Court’s earlier two choices establishing the suitable for same-sex {couples} to marry.

“There was no expectation that we’d have Republicans vote for us,” Takano mentioned. “But we had 30 to 40 Republicans that voted with Democrats, and that gave [the bill] momentum. It also reflected a change of heart.”

Democrats cited the urgency of passing this invoice after Trump’s persistent assaults on transgender communities, and specifically transgender youth. Within hours of his inauguration in January, Trump signed an govt order that declared the federal authorities would solely acknowledge two sexes, “male and female,” based mostly on one’s reproductive cells.

From there, he signed a raft of govt orders threatening to withhold federal funding from public faculties that permit trans college students to take part in sports activities and use loos that align with their gender id and from hospitals that present gender-affirming care to minors.

Trump’s anti-trans agenda has rippled by means of all elements of public life — from barring trans individuals from updating their passports with a gender marker that displays their id to denying incarcerated trans ladies from being housed in ladies’s services.

So far, nearly all of Trump’s anti-LGBTQ insurance policies have been challenged within the courts — and several other federal judges have blocked many of those insurance policies from going into impact.

Still, LGBTQ+ advocates level to the escalation of anti-LGBTQ insurance policies on the state stage and the necessity for federal laws to halt these payments from taking impact. This yr, 850 anti-LGBTQ payments had been filed in state legislatures throughout the nation, and greater than 2,500 anti-LGBTQ payments have been launched over the past 5 years — although the overwhelming majority of them fail.

“In addition to the attacks we’ve become used to at the state level, the Trump administration has launched its own unrelenting attacks on LGBTQIA+ Americans. Just like in the statehouses, they’ve reserved their most vicious attacks and most dehumanizing rhetoric for trans youth,” mentioned Olivia Hunt, the director of federal coverage for Advocates for Trans Equality, a nationwide trans advocacy group.

“This is a moment that demands action. Trans youth deserve to be protected by their government, they shouldn’t have to be protected from their government.”