Democrats Plan To Introduce Sweeping LGBT Rights Bill In Congress This Week
The
measure, which lawmakers plan to file in the House and Senate, would
ban discrimination in seven categories — including housing, education,
and public accommodations.
Democrats
in Congress plan to introduce broad legislation this week to protect
LGBT people from discrimination — including in housing, workplaces,
schools, and public accommodations. In effect, the Equality Act would
extend the same raft of rights to LGBT Americans that are currently
afforded to other protected groups, including people of color, under the
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The
bill marks the first major attempt by Democrats to advance LGBT rights
in both chambers of Republican-led Congress since the Supreme Court
ruled in favor of marriage equality in June.
The
measure has been long in the works and attempts to get traction where a
more narrowly tailored LGBT workplace nondiscrimination bill — known as
ENDA — had faltered for years.
Conversely,
the measure’s introduction coincides with a committee vote on a
Republican-backed bill to protect people and organizations who disagree
with same-sex couples marrying.
Rep. David Cicilline outlined goals for the LGBT-rights bill on Monday
in a “dear colleagues” letter that requested co-sponsors. The Rhode
Island congressman said he intends to introduce the measure later this
week while Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon files a companion bill in the
Senate.
“In most states, a same-sex couple can get married on Saturday, post pictures on Facebook on Sunday, and then risk being fired from their job or kicked out of their apartment on Monday,”
said Cicilline’s letter. “A majority of states in our country do not
have laws that protect LGBT individuals against discrimination.”
“We need a uniform federal standard that protects all LGBT Americans from
discrimination,” he said.
discrimination,” he said.
Provisions
of the bill to ban discrimination in places of public accommodations
may draw the most scrutiny, and elevate local debates over faith.
Religious freedom bills in Indiana and Arkansas became national
lightning rods this spring, raising disagreement about whether business
owners selling cakes or flowers to same-sex couples who are marrying
compromised the moral rights of Christians.
But
Allison Steinberg, a spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties
Union, which advocates for LGBT rights and religious liberties, argues
this should be an open and shut issue.
“Open
for business means open for all,” Steinberg told BuzzFeed News. “A
public serving business owner can’t turn someone away because of their
race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, nor should they be
allowed to deny someone service because of their sexual orientation or
gender identity.”
Despite
Democrats finding the wind at their backs in terms of public opinion,
it is unclear if their nondiscrimination bill will have sufficient
backing from Democrats to constitute a full court press in the
Republican-led chambers, or if, rather, the bill amounts to a liberal
building block for LGBT rights over the next few years.
Four times this year, a majority of the GOP-controlled senate has voted for
LGBT rights legislation, but no bill has received the 60 votes needed
to overcome a threatened filibuster. Still, those majorities may reflect
a warming trend for LGBT legislation.
Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled
that sexual orientation-based discrimination was protected under
existing civil rights law, echoing an earlier decision based on gender
identity-based discrimination. The decision applies to the federal
government and guides, but is not controlling as to, courts facing
similar disputes.
The
LGBT rights bill would “provide explicit, consistent protections for
sexual orientation and gender identity,” Cicilline’s letter said. He
explained the bill would cover seven areas of federal law: People who
are credit worthy could not be refused loans, leases, or credit cards
for being LGBT; public education institutions that receive federal money
could not discriminate against LGBT students; otherwise qualified
employees and job applicants could not be discriminated against in
hiring, promotion, or firing; LGBT renters and home buyers could not be
discriminated against in leasing or purchasing homes, securing home
loans, or using brokerage services; people could not be held off of
juries or denied federal funding for being LGBT; and finally, people
could not be refused services in places of public accommodation, from
hotels to stores, based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender
identity.
“There
is an unacceptable patchwork of state-level protections for LGBT
people, and more than half of LGBT Americans live in a state that lack
fully-inclusive non-discrimination laws,” Chad Griffin, president of
LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement to
BuzzFeed News.
“A
federal non-discrimination bill will create permanent and clear
protections to ensure that all employees are hired, fired or promoted
based on their performance,” he said.
The bill is set to be introduced the same week a committee vote is scheduled on the First Amendment Defense Act.
That GOP-led bill would bar the federal government from revoking tax
exemptions or denying benefits because an individual or organization
believes marriage should be reserved for opposite sex couples.
Sixty-nine
percent of American voters — including 51% of Republicans — want a
federal law that prohibits discriminating against someone based on
sexual orientation or gender identity, according to a national poll released
in April. The poll was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research
and commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT advocacy
organization.
On the issue of religious freedom, a Reuters poll in
April found 54% of Americans believed a business should not be allowed
to deny services based on their religious beliefs, while only 28% said a
business should be allowed to do so.
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