New York Rep. Elise Stefanik withdrew her support for the controversial Fairness for All Act during a Tuesday night procedural vote.
The third-highest-ranking Republican in the House was previously a co-sponsor of the measure, among 22 others, as of November 2021, according to a report.
Stefanik joins the likes of Reps. Claudia Tenney and Jeff Van Drew, who both recently withdrew their own support for the bill.
The bill seeks to create protections for both gender identity and sexual orientation in U.S. civil rights law, with some exemptions for religious organizations. It names its purpose as prohibiting “discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity” and protecting “the free exercise of religion.”
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Stefanik, along with other Republican co-sponsors, previously received pushback from conservative organizations for supporting the bill.
“21 Republicans, led by @RepChrisStewart of Utah, are pushing their own version of the Equality Act. The ‘Fairness For All Act’ would enshrine sexual orientation and ‘gender identity’ into civil rights law nationwide,” the American Principles Project tweeted in October of last year.
21 Republicans, led by @RepChrisStewart of Utah, are pushing their own version of the Equality Act.
The “Fairness For All Act” would enshrine sexual orientation and “gender identity” into civil rights law nationwide.
Important read from @JonSchweppe:https://t.co/yUFADBybDS
— American Principles ?? (@approject) October 26, 2021
In 2019, Stefanik supported the Equality Act, a bill similarly attempting to ban sexual orientation- or gender identity-based discrimination.
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In 2021, she told CNN, “While I voted for previous versions of this legislation before the Supreme Court ruling, I have long been concerned that this bill goes far beyond non-discrimination and eliminates the role of single gendered organizations and activities throughout our society,” referring to the June 2020 decision wherein the Supreme Court ruled that federal civil rights law protecting against sex-based discrimination extends to sexual orientation and gender identity.
