White House Not Ready To Endorse The Equality Act

White House press secretary Josh Earnest

The Obama Administration is not yet ready to endorse The Equality Act, which would expand civil rights protections to the LGBT community.

Chris Johnson from The Washington Blade reports:

“I’m not prepared to say that yet,” Earnest said. “This is a piece of legislation that the White House does continue to review. There’s significant consequences to this bill going into effect. It has an impact on housing law and a variety of other policies in the federal government, so it’s something that’s still being carefully reviewed by the administration.”

But Earnest said even without explicit support for the bill, Obama believes “we must ensure all Americans are treated equally under federal law” and is still behind the idea of enshrining comprehensive non-discrimination protections for LGBT people.

“The president believes the passage of comprehensive legislation that protects LGBT Americans from discrimination would mark an important step toward that outcome,” Earnest added. “So, we would applaud the efforts of members of Congress to try to advance that goal, but when it comes to this specific piece of legislation, it’s something that is still under review by the administration.”

Both Hillary Clinton and Vice-President Joe Biden have signaled they support the legislation.

That being said, I would put the idea that the bill would move substantially in the current GOP controlled Congress pretty close to zero.