Support LGBTQ+ Rights with the Equality Act

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects people from discrimination based on race, skin color, sex, religion, and national origin. However, the Act’s crucial anti-discrimination provisions do not protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Thus, in the 27 states without robust LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination laws, LGBTQ people can legally be fired, harassed at work, barred from businesses, denied housing, and more because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

To remedy this issue, House and Senate Democrats have introduced H.R. 15 / S. 1503, the Equality Act.The bill would provide necessary national-level protections for LGBTQ people by updating existing laws, like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to explicitly ban discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The law would also revise the Civil Rights Act to ban sex-based discrimination in public spaces and services, such as retail stores, pharmacies, and transit, as well as in federally funded programs.

The conservative majority on the Supreme Court has been eroding the hard-fought rights of LGBTQ+ Americans. In response to these threats, Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022 to protect same sex marriage. Now it must build on that momentum and codify nondiscrimination protections into law. Call on your representatives to secure national-level protections for LGBTQ+ people and extend protection against sex discrimination beyond federal programs to the private sector.