Today, Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) voted with a bipartisan majority of the House of Representatives to pass the Equality Act, legislation to ensure key protections under federal civil rights law are fully extended to LGBTQ Americans.
The Equality Act extends anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ Americans with regard to employment, education, access to credit, jury service, federal funding, housing and public accommodations.
“It is well past time to ensure LGBTQ Americans have full civil rights protection under the law, and this bill will help move our nation closer to fulfilling the promise of equality, opportunity, and justice for all,” said Rep. Axne. “Our LGBTQ friends, family members and co-workers still face unequal treatment, and I will continue to fight in Washington to make sure that we end discrimination against our LGBTQ community.”
The Equality Act amends existing federal civil rights laws to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in education, employment, housing, credit, public accommodations, federal jury service, and the use of federal funds.
The legislation amends:
- Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide basic protections against discrimination in public accommodations by adding sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity;
- Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide basic protections against discrimination by recipients of federal financial assistance by adding sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity;
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the Government Employee Rights Act of 1991, and the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to make explicit protections against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity;
- The Fair Housing Act to make protections against housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity explicit;
- The Equal Credit Opportunity Act to make protections against credit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity explicit; and
- The Jury Selections and Services Act to make protections against discrimination in federal jury service based on sexual orientation or gender identity explicit.
The Equality Act was originally passed by Rep. Axne and a bipartisan majority of the U.S House in May 2019.
Original source can be found here.
