The final vote was 224-206. Three Republicans joined the Democrats in voting for the bill. Rep. John Katko, Tom Reed and Brian Fitzpatrick voted with Democrats on this vote, and did so when the legislation was also passed in the House in 2019. When the bill passed on the House floor in 2019, eight Republicans joined the Democrats to vote for the legislation.
Advocates for the LGBTQ community argue that the legislation will help protect people in countries where it is legal to discriminate against people and adding the law is long overdue.
“We are very excited about the incredible support of President Biden and his commitment to making the Equality Act the law of the land,” David Cicilline, an associate of the Equality Act, said Thursday. “Every American deserves respect and dignity, and it is important that the Equality Act becomes law, because it will ensure once and for all that LGBTQ Americans can live without discrimination.”
But critics of the legislation say it raises serious concerns for religious communities as well as women’s sports. Republicans point to a provision in the legislation that states that an individual cannot be denied access to a toilet, locker room or locker room based on their gender identity.
Opponents say it will force women and girls to share private spaces with men. Critics also say the bill could facilitate men participating in women’s sports if they identify themselves as female.
Transgender athletes have been fighting over the past few years against legislation aimed at restricting their participation because of their gender identity. Many claim that such policies are in violation of Title IX, the federal law on anti-discrimination in education which recognizes that the playing field for women in sport is equal.
Republican Rep. Andy Biggs, who presides over the House’s most conservative caucus, opposed the legislation, saying it would be a ‘devastating attack on humanity’.
“While it attacks religious freedom, freedom of expression and freedom of association, all important rights recognized in the first amendment do not stop there; it also denies the biological facts that men and women are the two sexes,” he said Thursday. said. . “The bill requires reckless toilets for girls and women, locker rooms, gyms or any place where a woman wants to seek privacy, in order to hand over that privacy to biological men. Ladies’ sports are already being infiltrated.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the Equality Act was only part of an “attack on freedom” by the Biden government.
“I mean, if you look at Biden’s appointments to cabinet members, who are suing nuns and others, it really looks like an attack on religious freedom, girls’ sports and others,” he said during his weekly press conference. “If you are a member of Congress, it is interesting to me how far they have gone and how much they want to go further.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer addressed some of the “despicable remarks by some Republicans about trans people” without mentioning them Thursday.
“Their attacks on transgender people in the transgender community are just common. Common,” the New York Democrat told a news conference ahead of the House’s adoption of the Equality Act. “And shows a total lack of understanding, a total lack of empathy. They do not represent our view and they do not represent the views of a majority of Americans. Their contemptuous comments only make my blood boil with anger. If I do not ‘I do not have a mask that can see my teeth grind. ‘
“It breaks my heart that is needed,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at her weekly press conference on Thursday morning. “But the fact is, and in fact, even this morning we showed a sad event here that proves we need to have respect. Not just respect, but be proud, be proud of our LGBTQ community.”
Ashley Killough of CNN contributed to this report.