LGBTQ individuals have a critical need for explicit protections in federal law. While more and more courts have found that federal law’s prohibition of sex discrimination also protect LGBTQ individuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, explicit protections in our federal civil rights laws would ensure that these protections are not vulnerable. The Equality Act would amend key federal nondiscrimination laws to provide explicit protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, credit, federally funded programs (including education), and federal jury service. It would make clear that these types of discrimination are forms of sex discrimination and unlawful.
The protections the Equality Act would also provide vital for LGBTQ women to end discrimination by eliminating sex discrimination in all areas for them. The Equality Act would also close longstanding gaps in federal law and for the first time prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in public spaces and services and in all federally funded activities, providing important new legal protections for women.
the Equality Act would expand the kinds of entities considered to be spaces of public accommodations under the law in a way that also expands current civil rights protections against discrimination based on race, religion and national origin – in addition to sex.
There are also currently no protections at all on the federal level on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity when it comes to public accommodations and many federally funded programs, the Equality Act would change that and by law on a federal level they would have to legally protect all of us. Without legal protection from the federal government we are subject to all kinds of discrimination from all who would do so. An employer can fire you for being gay, or your Transgender and can’t find a place to live due to housing discrimination. The LGBTQ community would all be legally protected from discrimination everywhere, and it would be against the law to discriminate against anyone based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Equality Act will provide protections for LGBTQ people in the following areas:
• Employment: The Equality Act would explicitly prohibit discrimination of LGBTQ people and make it clear that discrimination based on “sex stereotyping” is a prohibited form of sex discrimination in employment.
• Federally funded programs and activities (including education): The Equality Act would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination by institutions that receive federal funds – including schools, hospitals, domestic violence shelters, and police departments.
• Housing: The Equality Act would protect LGBTQ people from housing discrimination, including in the sale or rental of housing and harassment by landlords.
• Public Spaces and Services: The Equality Act would protect LGBTQ people from harassment and other discrimination in “public accommodations,” including stores, restaurants, hotels, transportation, and providers of health care services.
• Credit: The Equality Act would protect LGBTQ individuals from discrimination in credit, financing, and lending.
• Federal Jury Service: The Equality Act would protect LGBTQ people’s right to serve on federal juries without discrimination.
Please support the Equality Act, we all need Federal Protections and live free lives without the fear of discrimination.
-Fighting For Our Rights- The LGBTQ Community