Nancy Pelosi Vows To Make The Equality Act A Priority

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA-D)

Should the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives after the midterm elections, probable Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says passing the long-overdue Equality Act would be a high priority.

From Chris Johnson at The Washington Blade:

Speaking at an event Tuesday at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Pelosi identified the Equality Act as a personal goal in wide-ranging remarks about her plans for the next Congress.

“It isn’t in our ‘For The People’ agenda because it doesn’t get that specific, but there’s one more because it’s personal for me that I really want to do, and it’s called the Equality Act,” Pelosi said. “The Equality Act expands ending discrimination against LGBTQ people and women and adding that to the Civil Rights Act.”

Introduced by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) in the House and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in the Senate, the Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to ban anti-LGBT discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, education, federal programs and credit.

The bill also seeks to update federal law to include sex in the list of protected classes in public accommodation in addition to expanding the definition of public accommodations to include retail stores, banks, transportation services and health care services.

Further, the Equality Act would establish that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — a 1994 law aimed at protecting religious liberty — can’t be used to enable anti-LGBT discrimination.