Democrats believe the 1964 Civil Rights Act needs to be amended.
The landmark act, that bans discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, should also include sexual orientation and gender identity, according to a measure introduced by House Democrats last week. Leadership called it a top legislative priority.
So far, 237 Democrats have signed on to the Equality Act of 2019, guaranteeing House passage in the near future.
Democrats wrote the legislation after deciding a bill banning workplace discrimination based on sexual or gender identity did not go far enough.
“Everybody just said, why should we be ending discrimination in the workplace?” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said last week. “What about in every place — in housing, in every place?”
But like the workforce discrimination bill, that never made it out of Congress, the Equality Act faces serious obstacles.
By adding sexual and gender identity into the Civil Rights Act, the measure would greatly expand non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals to include not only the workplace, but also education, credit, jury service, federal funding, housing, and public accommodations.
Religious groups have warned the measure would threaten religious liberty and encode anti-Christian bias into the law. They say it would dismantle the protections afforded in the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act and strip the rights of business owners to adhere to their faith.
Other opponents say the measure’s reach is much more extensive.
It could penalize religious schools and organizations over policies regarding LGBTQ individuals, could force doctors to perform medical operations on those seeking to transition to the opposite sex, and even compel parents to transition children who are suffering from gender dysphoria, said Emilie Kao, director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at the Heritage Foundation.
[Opinion: Don’t fall for the ‘Equality Act’]
Kao says the bill could upend women’s sports by making it illegal to block transgender women, who are biologically men, from competing on women’s teams.
“It would totally change the face of athletics,” Kao told the Washington Examiner. “It would not only take away medals, but it would take away scholarship opportunities for girls.”
Such a scenario is unfolding in Connecticut, where state law allows boys who have transitioned into women to compete on women’s teams. They are handily beating their biologically female teammates and shutting them out of scholarship opportunities.
Republicans have remained largely silent on the Equality Act.
Few in the party are backing the legislation. Only two Republicans have signed on in the House, and only one Senate Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, has voiced support.
As long as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., controls the Senate floor, there is no chance the measure will make it out of the 116th Congress.
Instead, House passage will almost guarantee the measure will be a top priority the next time Democrats control Congress and the White House.
The House sponsor, Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., is hoping public support for LGBTQ anti-discrimination protections will prompt McConnell, who is up for election in 2020, to take up the House bill. He tweeted last week: “84% of Kentucky residents think firing someone because they’re gay should be illegal. If Mitch McConnell blocks the #EqualityAct, his constituents will hold him accountable next November.”
