Will Equality Actually Do Anything?
On Friday, the House of Representatives passed the Equality Act, a law that provides broad protection to the LBGTQ community and the first of its kind to be passed by any house of Congress .
LGBT defenders across the country were celebrating victory, though hardly a guarantee it will pass, with a Republican-majority Senate. What Does the Equality Act Really Do? And why are critics and conservatives so opposed to the fundamental rights of the LGBT community?
What is Equality Law?
The Equality Act will amend the Civil Rights Act 1964 – an ordinance that prevents discrimination based on race, nationality and religion – by expanding these protections to prevent discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
There are currently no clear federal laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination. In about 26 states, you can still get fired, for example, for being LGBTQ (although there may be local laws at the state or city level that protect LGBTQ). There is also no clear federal law prohibiting discrimination against women in public business.
This law aims to protect LGBTQ people in a number of areas, including housing, education, jury services, retail stores, banks, access to legal and transportation services, and other services provided to the public. For the very first time, women will also be protected from discrimination in public under the Equality Act.
What do the critics say?
Some critics argue that laws that protect women will in fact violate women’s rights. Many Republicans noted that under the Equality Act, women cannot be denied access to locker rooms or toilets in accordance with their gender identity. Accordingly, opponents argue that this will force women to share toilets with men.
Other Republicans argue about inequality in sports. Missouri Republican Congresswoman Vicki Hartzler asked what the Equality Act would mean for the upcoming Olympics, which appears to be more important than LGBTQ rights to things like fair housing or credit. “It only takes three biological men who identify as women to prevent the best athletes from reaching medals,” Hartzler said.
Unsurprisingly, other conservatives oppose this idea as it is linked to religious beliefs. “It is bad for freedom to force small business owners across the country to provide services or products to the public that may violate their deeply rooted religious beliefs,” Florida Republican Congressman Ross Spano said during the hearing.
And some conservative media outlets are just full of assholes.
What does Trump think of the Equality Act?
In a statement to the Washington Blade, a senior administration official said Trump opposed the Equality Act. “The Trump administration strongly opposes discrimination of any kind and maintains equal treatment for everyone,” the official said. “However, this bill in its current form is filled with poisonous pills that threaten to infringe on the rights of parents and conscience.”
Ironically, back in 2000 during the previous presidential campaign, Trump declared his support for such LGBTQ rights in an interview with Advocate . “I love the idea of amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation,” he said. “… We don’t need to rewrite existing laws, although I do think we need to tackle hate crime legislation. But amending the Civil Rights Act would provide gay people with the same protection we give other Americans – that’s fair. ”
And it is clear that this support did not last long; Since the beginning of his presidency, the Trump administration has banned transgender people from military service, removed links to LGBTQ issues on federal websites, and assembled a cabinet of anti-LGBTQ individuals, including Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy Devos .
Will it pass?
With a Republican majority in the Senate, he is expected not to even go to the vote. (The bill was also rejected twice in commission before it was finally re-introduced in March this year.)
However, his success in the House is good; in the past, LGBTQ rights were shared by Democrats. The support of the whole party, as well as the eight Republicans, is the first.
“Today’s historic vote is an important milestone on the road to equality and sends a powerful and profound message to LGBTQ people, especially LGBT youth, that the US House is behind them,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement . “Human rights should be independent of which side of the state or city line they live on, and today we have taken a giant step forward towards full equality.”