WASHINGTON – The House voted 224 to 206 on Thursday on legislation to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, an expansive effort that has generated fierce opposition among conservatives over religious freedom and sparked a new round of fighting. parties in Congress.
The measure, known as the Equality Act, marks an important platform for what Democrats call their equality agenda, following previous laws that treated attacks on gays as hate crimes and allowing gays to openly serve in the army. The Equality Act would amend the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sex and other characteristics, to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
“It is necessary because there is discrimination against people in the LGBTQ community,” said Mayor Nancy Pelosi (D., California), on Thursday. “It breaks my heart that is necessary,” she said, choking on a press conference.
The White House supports the legislation, but its fate in the Senate is uncertain. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., NY) on Thursday declined to say when he would schedule the measure for a vote.
Only three Republicans joined Democrats in support of the project. Many Republican lawmakers opposed legislation both on the basis of religious freedom and on putting gender identity in legal parity with sex assigned at birth.
At a press conference with the Capitol as a backdrop and later in the House plenary, Republicans in the House for Freedom Caucus denounced the legislation, saying it would discriminate against certain adoption agencies that do not allow adoptions by same-sex parents, harming sports and prevent health professionals from refusing to have abortions based on their religious beliefs.
“As someone who has enjoyed playing sports and training athletics in high school for many years, imagining the damage that these policies will cause to women and girls is heartbreaking,” said MP Vicky Hartzler (R., Mo.), citing the current dispute in Connecticut over the state’s inclusive transgender politics in school sports.
“One of the areas that this will affect are faith-based adoption agencies,” said MP Mary Miller (R., Ill.). “They will be forced to abandon their beliefs or to close down.”
Democrats say that gays and transgender people face discrimination when trying to obtain basic services or access facilities such as centers for the elderly or restaurants, and that the discrimination manifests itself in lower rates of ownership, greater difficulty in rent and a higher rate of homelessness. They say the arguments about protecting religious freedom are a fig leaf that provides cover for harmful practices.
“Every scoundrel in American history has tried to disguise his opposition to the civil rights of others in religious dress,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.).
“Their real argument, the only honest argument, is that they believe that LGBT people are morally inferior and that firing us should be allowed,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D., NY), the first openly gay congressman from New York.
Republicans criticized a clause in the law that would prohibit the use of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a defense against claims of discrimination. House legislators urged Senate Republicans to prevent the general measure from becoming law, but declined to say whether they would support any modified version of the legislation to protect gay or transgender people from discrimination.
Congresswoman Marie Newman (D., Ill.,), Who has a transgender daughter, hung a transgender rights banner in the hallway across from Greene’s office.
Photograph:
Sarah Silbiger / Getty Images
The Supreme Court ruled last year that the 1964 civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination also prohibited employers from discriminating against workers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Equality Act would make the court’s findings on these protections an explicit part of the law.
The political struggle took a personal turn within Congress. After Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) Tried on Wednesday to block voting on the Equality Act, Rep. Marie Newman (D., Ill.,), Who has a transgender daughter, hung a transgender rights flag in the hallway opposite Mrs. Greene’s office.
“The symbolism was simply to put the flag there, so that it would see our community every day,” Newman told CNN.
Ms. Greene, who was expelled from her committees by Democrats earlier this year for having adopted conspiracy theories in the past, responded by posting a sign outside her door that said “There are TWO genders: MAN AND WOMAN”. She posted a video of herself placing the sign in front of Mrs. Newman’s flag.
“Are you aware of what she did first?” Ms. Greene said, when asked, if she was concerned that the way she expressed her opinion had contributed to a toxic climate in Congress. “She did it first, so it’s not that I created something toxic. She did it first. “
On the other side of the Rotunda, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) Also joined the fight for transgender issues. At a hearing on the appointment of Dr. Rachel Levine, appointed as assistant secretary of health, Mr. Paul asked her whether she supported hormone therapy or sex reassignment therapy in minors with gender dysphoria, saying “we should be outraged that someone is talking to a three-year-old about sex change. ”
Dr. Levine, who is a transsexual woman, responded that a variety of issues should be considered in the treatment of minors.
“Transgender medicine is a very complex and nuanced field, with robust research and developed treatment standards,” she said.
—Stephanie Armor contributed to this article.
Write to Siobhan Hughes at [email protected]
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