{"id":214808,"date":"2019-05-18T03:51:54","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T07:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=214808"},"modified":"2019-05-18T03:51:54","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T07:51:54","slug":"house-approves-sweeping-bill-to-expand-gay-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/18\/house-approves-sweeping-bill-to-expand-gay-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"House approves sweeping bill to expand gay rights"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The legislation’s chief sponsor, Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., said it affirms fairness and equality as core American values \u201cand ensures members\u00a0of\u00a0the LGBTQ community can live their lives free from the fear\u00a0of\u00a0legal discrimination\u00a0of\u00a0any kind.\u201d (Pexels Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Democrats in the House approved sweeping anti-discrimination legislation Friday that would extend civil rights protections to LGBT people by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The protections would extend to employment, housing, loan applications, education, public accommodations and other areas.<\/p>\n

Called the Equality Act, the bill is a top priority\u00a0of\u00a0House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said it will bring the nation \u201ccloser to equal liberty and justice for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sexual orientation and gender identity \u201cdeserve full civil rights protections – in the workplace and in every place, education, housing, credit, jury service, public accommodations,\u201d Pelosi said.<\/p>\n

The vote was 236-173.<\/p>\n

The legislation’s chief sponsor, Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., said it affirms fairness and equality as core American values \u201cand ensures members\u00a0of\u00a0the LGBTQ community can live their lives free from the fear\u00a0of\u00a0legal discrimination\u00a0of\u00a0any kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cicilline, who is gay, called equal treatment under the law a founding principle\u00a0of\u00a0the United States, adding \u201cIt’s absurd that, in 2019, members\u00a0of\u00a0the LGBTQ community can be fired from their jobs, denied service in a restaurant or get thrown out\u00a0of\u00a0their apartment because\u00a0of\u00a0their sexual orientation or gender identify.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most Republicans oppose the bill and call it another example\u00a0of\u00a0government overreach. Several GOP lawmakers spoke against it Friday on the House floor. President Donald Trump is widely expected to veto the legislation if it reaches his desk.<\/p>\n

At a news conference Thursday, the Republicans said the bill would jeopardize religious freedom by requiring acceptance\u00a0of\u00a0a particular ideology about sexuality and sexual identity.<\/p>\n

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., called the legislation \u201cgrossly misnamed\u201d and said it is \u201canything but equalizing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill \u201chijacks\u201d the 1964 Civil Rights Act to create \u201ca brave new world\u00a0of\u00a0‘discrimination’ based on undefined terms\u00a0of\u00a0sexual orientation and gender identity,\u201d Hartzler said. The legislation threatens women’s sports, shelters and schools, and could silence female athletes, domestic abuse survivors and other women, she said.<\/p>\n

A similar bill in the Senate has been co-sponsored by all but one Senate Democrat, but faces long odds in the Republican-controlled chamber.<\/p>\n

A Trump administration official who asked not be identified, because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the president’s intentions, said the White House \u201copposes discrimination\u00a0of\u00a0any kind and supports the equal treatment\u00a0of\u00a0all. However, this bill in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some critics also said the bill could jeopardize Title IX, the law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded education programs. Former tennis star Martina Navratilova co-wrote an opinion piece in The Washington Post urging lawmakers not to \u201cmake the unnecessary and ironic mistake\u00a0of\u00a0sacrificing the enormously valuable social good that is female sports in their effort to secure the rights\u00a0oftransgender women and girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead\u00a0of\u00a0the vote, Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., called the House bill \u201chorrifying\u201d and said it could cause Catholic schools to lose federal grants for school lunches or require faith-based adoption agencies to place children with same-sex couples.<\/p>\n

Neena Chaudhry, a lawyer for the National Women’s Law Center, said the bill does not undermine Title IX, because courts have already found that Title IX protects against gender-identity discrimination.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is way past time to fully open the doors\u00a0of\u00a0opportunity for every American,\u201d said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., one\u00a0of\u00a0the Senate bill’s lead sponsors. \u201cLet’s pass the Equality Act, and let us rejoice in the bells\u00a0of\u00a0freedom ringing for every American.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Senate, Republican Sen. Susan Collins\u00a0of\u00a0Maine also supports the bill, while Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin\u00a0of\u00a0West Virginia is the sole Democrat who is not a co-sponsor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Democrats in the House approved sweeping anti-discrimination legislation Friday that would extend civil rights protections to LGBT people …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":214809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-matthew-daly","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214808"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214811,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214808\/revisions\/214811"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}