Gay rights bill faces GOP roadblock

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By Lydia Wheeler - 09/05/15 01:32 PM EDT

Republicans are proving to be a roadblock for a sweeping civil rights bill championed by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. 

Despite a string of federal victories for the LGBT community, including a landmark Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage, the group has been unable to drum up any public GOP support for its chief legislative priority — a measure meant to assure equal rights in employment, housing and public accommodations. 

“A fair amount has happened with LGBT rights,” said Chai Feldblum, commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). “The last piece of having the stars align is having members of Congress, number one believe in the goals of the bill and two, believe that voting for the bill will not harm them politically, especially now in any primary they may face.”
 

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Democrats had 155 co-sponsors in the House and 40 co-sponsors in the Senate when they introduced the Equality Act in July to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.  The bill has yet to gain a single Republican co-sponsor. 

Some civil rights advocates maintain there is support on that side of the aisle. 

“I believe there is Republican support now and there will be more Republican support as time goes on, “ said Jennifer Pizer, law and policy project director for Lambda Legal, a legal organization that fights for LGBT rights.  “Until leadership allows there to be hearings and votes, those Republicans that want to be supportive have a harder time.”

Pizer said leadership is hesitant to shine a spotlight of the issues because opposing views from a small segment of the party can make the whole GOP party appear anti-LGBT.

Some lawmakers are still pushing back against marriage equality. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Ind.) introduced the First Amendment Defense Act, shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling in June to ban the federal government from being able to punish churches, charities or private schools that take action in opposition to the new law. The religious freedom bill appears to have enthusiasm behind it with 115 Republican co-sponsors.

And grievances over the court's decision flared back up this week when Kentucky marriage clerk Kim Davis refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses, prompting many of the 2016 GOP candidates to weigh in. 

Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) all came out in support of Davis, who was taken into federal custody on Thursday. 

Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister, said Davis was  "showing more courage, more conviction and more of a better understanding of the Constitution than virtually any elected official in America."

Some, pointing to momentum for the gay rights movement, argue that the blowback will pass in time. 

“I think it’s already dissipating and will be dissipated by the next election,” Pizer said.

But even if the LGBTs community is able to gain Republican support, political pundits say both sides need to be willing to hammer out the details of federal nondiscrimination legislation.

“All sides have to be willing to negotiate the details in a way that respects the different opinions,” said former Rep. Steve Bartlett (R-Texas). “If one side tries to jam it through it won’t happen.” 

Bartlett, who is now a senior advisor at Treliant Risk Advisors, helped champion of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which passed in 1990.  

Though they are two separate issues, Bartlett said the Equality Act is following the same path as the ADA and all the same ingredients need to be there to get it passed. 

“In terms of support in the country, I think the issue has that,” he said. “But it doesn’t have the support of leaders in the GOP just yet. It won’t happen in 2016. I think it could happen in 2017.”

Advocates say passing a federal bill isn’t a Republican issue or a Democratic issue, or at least it shouldn’t be. 

“It’s about fundamentally ensuring everyone can live their lives to the fullest, without fear of facing discrimination when they’re applying for a job, relaxing in a coffee shop, or even just walking through a park with friends,” Matt McTighe, campaign director for Freedom for All Americans, said in a statement to The Hill. 

The group said it is working at the state and local levels to advance non-discriminations laws so lawmakers in Washington, regardless of their political parties, see the urgency for a comprehensive federal bill. 

“Bipartisan action across the country is key to bipartisan action in Washington,” he said. 

Feldblum said employers are beginning to understand they can be held liable under existing law, thanks to a July EEOC ruling  that federal protections against workplace discrimination based on sex also apply to sexual orientation and gender identity. 

And while gender is written into protections against discrimination in housing, education and healthcare, it has not been written into laws that protect against discrimination at parks, beaches or businesses open to the general public. 

Ensuring complete protections for LGBTs, Feldblum said, is ultimately a race between the Supreme Court and Congress. 

“It depends on who gets there first because either one of them could do it,” she said. “Why wouldn’t you be running both races?”