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By: Sneha Bhale
The Equality Act would provide consistent and explicit anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people across key areas of life, including employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally funded programs, and jury service.
Biden recently released 17 executive orders detailing his plans regarding Covid-19, climate change, foreign policy, and even LGBTQIA+ rights. With the house passing the Equality Act, Biden is one step closer towards more progressive action regarding LGBTQIA+ rights and ending discrimination.
What is the 1964 Civil Rights Act?
First proposed by President John. F Kennedy, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement.
The Equality would work to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill has been introduced multiple times before and previously passed the House in 2019. However, the law's impact would be different in practical terms now than it was then.
What does the equality act now cover?
The Civil Rights Act covered discrimination in certain areas, like employment and housing. The Equality Act would expand that to cover federally funded programs, including retail stores and stadiums.
One advantage of all of this, then, is that the Equality Act would affect businesses like flower shops and bakeries that have been at the center of discrimination court cases in recent years — for example, a baker who doesn't want to provide a cake for a same-sex wedding like in the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado.
What’s next?
The equality act passed the House with a vote of 224-to-206 for the measure, with three Republicans joining all Democrats to vote "yes."
Unfortunately, the Senate is more uncertain. Democrats in the Senate broadly support the bill as Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, among the most moderate Democratic senators, signed a letter in support of it last year.
Furthermore, the bill would need 60 votes to avoid a filibuster in the Senate. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins cosponsored the bill in 2019, but not all of her fellow, more moderate Republicans are on board. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney however refuses to support the act, citing religious liberty. In an interview with the Washington Blade, his spokesperson stated "Sen. Romney believes that strong religious liberty protections are essential to any legislation on this issue, and since those provisions are absent from this particular bill, he is not able to support it,"
However, It's uncertain how other moderate Republicans might vote. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who supported the narrower Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) in 2013, has yet to demonstrate support for the Equality Act. And while Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who likewise supported ENDA, hasn’t given a clear response to his report but his office stated that "Rob opposes discrimination of any kind, and he also believes that it's important that Congress does not undermine protections for religious freedom, He will review any legislation when and if it comes up for a vote in the Senate."
Many senators are hesitant to publicly show support for the Equality act as many claim religious freedom or the feasibility of it passing the Senate.
While this act has a chance of getting passed the senate, Republicans have the opportunity of taking it to the Supreme Court and getting the Act completely tossed out with a current 6-3 conservative majority.
As Biden continues to make his mark in the first 100 days with progressive and proactive changes, His ability to do so will depend on whether he will be working with a senate that shares his goals.
Discussion Questions:
Will Equality pass the senate?
What does the Equality Act mean for the future Supreme Court docket?
How will discrimination protection be enacted in the workplace?
Sources Used/Further Reading:
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