The final vote was 224-206. Three Republicans joined the Democrats in voting on the bill. Representatives John Katko, Tom Reed and Brian Fitzpatrick voted with Democrats in this vote, and they did so when the legislation passed the House in 2019 as well. When the bill passed the House floor in 2019, eight Republicans joined the Democrats to vote in favor of the legislation.
Defenders of the LGTBQ community argue that the legislation will help protect people in states where it is legal to discriminate against people and adds that the law must have expired a long time ago.
“We are really excited to have President Biden’s incredible support and his commitment to making the Equality Act the country’s law,” said Rep. David Cicilline, co-sponsor of the Equality Act. “Every American deserves respect and dignity and it is important that the Equality Act becomes law because it will once and for all ensure that LGBTQ Americans can live without discrimination.”
But critics of the legislation argue that it raises serious concerns for religious communities and also for women’s sports. Republicans point to a provision in the legislation that says that an individual cannot be denied access to a bathroom, dressing room or dressing room based on their gender identity.
Opponents say it would force women and girls to share private spaces with men. Critics also say the project could facilitate men’s participation in women’s sports if they identify themselves as women.
Transgender athletes in recent years have struggled with legislation that aims to limit their participation due to their gender identity. Many argue that such policies violate Title IX, the federal anti-discrimination law in education that is credited with leveling the playing field for women in sports.
Republican MP Andy Biggs, who is the most conservative caucus president in the House, protested the legislation, saying it would be a “devastating attack on humanity”.
“While attacking religious freedom, freedom of expression and freedom of association, all the important rights recognized in the first amendment do not stop there, it also denies the biological facts that men and women are both sexes”, he said on Thursday. . “The project recklessly requires women’s and women’s bathrooms, lockers, gyms or any place where a woman can seek privacy, to give that privacy to biological men. Women’s sports are already being infiltrated.”
Minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, said the Equality Act is just part of a Biden administration’s “onslaught against freedom”.
“I mean, if you look at Biden’s nominations for cabinet members, suing nuns and others, it really looks like an attack on freedom of religion, women’s sports as well and others,” he said during his weekly news conference. “If you are a member of Congress, it is interesting to me how far they have gone and how far they want to go.”
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer addressed some of the “despicable comments made by some Republicans about transgender people” without mentioning them on Thursday.
“His attacks on transgender people in the transgender community are just nasty,” the New York Democrat told a news conference before the House passed the Equality Act. “And they show a total lack of understanding, a total lack of empathy. They don’t represent our opinions and they don’t represent the opinions of most Americans. Their despicable comments only make my blood boil with anger. If I didn’t, I have a mask that you could see my teeth chattering. “
“It breaks my heart that it is necessary,” Mayor Nancy Pelosi said of the legislation at her weekly news conference on Thursday morning. “But the fact is, and in fact, we had a sad event right here this morning, demonstrating the need for respect. Not just respect, but pride, pride in our LGBTQ community.”
CNN’s Ashley Killough contributed to this report.