The U.S. House of Representatives has passed HR5, the Equality Act, in a 236-173 vote. This is the first time the House has approved an LGBTQ civil rights bill. The Senate has never approved one.
The legislation guarantees explicit, permanent protections for LGBTQ people under our nation's existing civil rights laws, expanding the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act and providing clear and equal protections under federal law for all Americans in employment, access to public spaces, housing, credit, education, jury service, and federally-funded programs. Today, in a majority of U.S. states (31), LGBTQ people remain at risk of being fired, evicted or denied services because of who they are.
The measure is unlikely to see a vote in the GOP-controlled Senate A senior White House official told the Washington Blade earlier this week that Trump was unlikely to support the bill and said it was “filled with poison pills.”
