Several Congressional Democrats reintroduced the Equality Act on Tuesday, resurrecting a decades-long effort to enshrine anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans in federal law.
Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) announced the legislation at a press conference Tuesday morning and described the importance of prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations, housing, education, banking and employment.
“As MAGA extremists attack the rights and freedoms of our LGBTQ+ friends and neighbors, I am fighting to end this hateful discrimination, expand freedom, and open the doors of opportunity for everyone,” Merkley said in a statement to HuffPost. More than 600 LGBTQ+ and other civil rights advocacy organizations have signaled their support.
Only 21 states explicitly bar discrimination on the basis of both gender identity and sexual orientation in housing and public accommodations, according to an analysis of state legislation from The Movement Advancement Project.
Democrats said the Equality Act, which would extend federal protections to LGBTQ+ Americans across the country, is not only long overdue but more necessary now as Trump has enacted dozens of policies that target trans Americans.
“We reintroduce this bill against the backdrop of a president who, in his very campaign, singled out the trans community with opportunistic bigotry,” Booker said at the press conference. “We stand here at a time when LGBTQ Americans are being targeted and singled out.”
If passed, the Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections against discrimination based on sex and gender identity, which would extend to transgender and gender-nonconforming people as well as pregnant people.
Democrats first introduced a version of the Equality Act in 1974 that only addressed discrimination based on sexual orientation. In 2015, Merkley and former Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) expanded the legislation to explicitly include gender identity.
The House of Representatives has passed versions of the Equality Act in previous years, including in 2019, with the support of eight Republicans, but the legislation has repeatedly stalled in the Senate.
Now, with a Republican-controlled Congress and Trump back in office, Democrats face an even steeper challenge. But they are cautiously optimistic that their colleagues across the aisle will see the importance of extending protections to all Americans.
Takano told reporters he was surprised by the number of Republicans who voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, which codified protections for same-sex and interracial marriage, following the Supreme Court’s previous two decisions establishing the right for same-sex couples to marry.
“There was no expectation that we’d have Republicans vote for us,” Takano said. “But we had 30 to 40 Republicans that voted with Democrats, and that gave [the bill] momentum. It also reflected a change of heart.”
Democrats cited the urgency of passing this bill after Trump’s persistent attacks on transgender communities, and in particular transgender youth. Within hours of his inauguration in January, Trump signed an executive order that declared the federal government would only recognize two sexes, “male and female,” based on one’s reproductive cells.
From there, he signed a raft of executive orders threatening to withhold federal funding from public schools that allow trans students to participate in sports and use bathrooms that align with their gender identity and from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to minors.
Trump’s anti-trans agenda has rippled through all aspects of public life — from barring trans people from updating their passports with a gender marker that reflects their identity to denying incarcerated trans women from being housed in women’s facilities.
So far, almost all of Trump’s anti-LGBTQ policies have been challenged in the courts — and several federal judges have blocked many of these policies from going into effect.
Still, LGBTQ+ advocates point to the escalation of anti-LGBTQ policies at the state level and the need for federal legislation to halt these bills from taking effect. This year, 850 anti-LGBTQ bills were filed in state legislatures across the country, and more than 2,500 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced over the last five years — though the vast majority of them fail.
“In addition to the attacks we’ve become used to at the state level, the Trump administration has launched its own unrelenting attacks on LGBTQIA+ Americans. Just like in the statehouses, they’ve reserved their most vicious attacks and most dehumanizing rhetoric for trans youth,” said Olivia Hunt, the director of federal policy for Advocates for Trans Equality, a national trans advocacy organization.
“This is a moment that demands action. Trans youth deserve to be protected by their government, they shouldn’t have to be protected from their government.”