Reprinted from an AFL-CIO press release by Carolyn Bobb on February 25, 2021.
Statement from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the House passage of the Equality Act (H.R. 5):
Members of the LGBTQ community deserve to be free from discrimination in all forms. [Thursday], we’re another step closer to that becoming a reality. While the Title VII Supreme Court decision barred job discrimination, the Equality Act would codify that ruling and provide our LGBTQ siblings additional protection in housing, credit and other key pathways to the American Dream. With the passage of the Equality Act, the labor movement will continue fighting for another landmark bill for LGBTQ working people, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which strengthens the freedom to form a union. A union contract has long been the greatest protection from homophobia and transphobia on the job, and we urge Congress to send both the PRO Act and the Equality Act to President Biden’s desk this year.
House Passes Sweeping Gay and Transgender Equality Legislation
Reprinted from The New York Times by Catie Edmondson on February 25, 2021.
A divided House on Thursday narrowly passed a bill that would extend civil rights protections to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, but the measure faced an uphill battle to enactment, with Republicans almost uniformly opposed.
The legislation, passed 224 to 206 almost entirely along party lines, stands little chance of drawing enough Republican support in the Senate to advance, at least in its current form. It was the second time the Democratic-led House had passed the measure, known as the Equality Act, which seeks to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add explicit bans on discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in both public and private spaces.
“In most states, LGBTQ people can be discriminated against because of who they are, or who they love,” said Representative David Cicilline, an openly gay Democrat from Rhode Island and the lead sponsor. “It is past time for that to change.” …
