The Equality Act passed the U. S. House on Friday, with eight Republicans breaking rank to vote with Democratic colleagues for legislation supporters say will…
The Equality Act passed the U. S. House on Friday, with eight Republicans breaking rank to vote with Democratic colleagues for legislation supporters say will add needed federal protections in housing, employment and health care to millions of LGBTQ Americans.
However, the legislation is not expected to be brought up for a vote in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, has referred to the upper chamber as a graveyard for progressive measures.
No Democrats voted against the measure, though three Democratic presidential candidates — Reps. Eric Swalwell, Tim Ryan and Seth Moulton — did not cast votes for or against the bill.
The bill bolsters the list of protected classes under the seminal 1964 Civil Rights Act and Fair Housing Act, as well as other civil rights laws, to include for “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” It’s the last class, however, that has drawn the most ire for what critics call its open-endedness.
In the waning moments before Friday’s vote, Republican opponents sought to cast the bill as a vaguely-written statute that would allow trans female athletes to run roughshod over biologically female opponents and open up churches to prosecution for discrimination against LGBTQ persons.
“H. R. 5 is bad for freedom,” said Rep. Ross Spano, a suburban Floridian. “It would immediately expose churches to ‘legal liability’ for simply following their earnest beliefs.”
But Democrats — more forcefully than in the previous hearings — sought to dispel arguments with faith. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas Democrat, talked about her faith while holding a copy of the Constitution.
“How would you feel if you’ve got to knock on the door and you could not get in?” Ms. Jackson Lee said, referencing property managers’ rights to not rent to gay tenants. “If they had no place for you at the inn?”
Rep. Ben McAdams, Utah Democrat, staged a colloquy with the bill’s sponsor, Rhode Island Democrat David Cicilline, during debate.
“Nothing compels a clergy member to perform a ceremony in conflict with their beliefs?” Mr. McAdams asked.
“Yes,” Mr. Ciciline said. “H. R. 5 does not nor could any laws supersede the First Amendment.”
Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee and early opponent of the bill, briefly interrupted the sequence of scheduled speakers to rebut the exchange, which he called a “cover” for Mr. McAdams to take a hard vote.
