The House of Representatives on Thursday passed sweeping legislation that would codify federal protections for LGBTQ Americans in the United States’ civil rights and labor laws, a major step forward in prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

What You Need To Know

  • The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Equality Act, sweeping legislation that would codify federal protections for LGBTQ Americans in the United States’ civil rights and labor laws

  • The Equality Act passed in the House by a 224-206 vote, with 3 Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the measure

  • The bill is one of President Joe Biden's top legislative priorities

  • The bill now heads to the Senate, where it faces an uphill battle, despite support from even the most moderate Democrat senators

The Equality Act passed in the House by a 224-206 vote, with 3 Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the measure.

The legislation, one of President Joe Biden’s top priorities, has an uneasy path to passage in the Senate. If passed by both chambers and signed into law, the Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. The protections would include education, housing, loan applications, and a number of other areas.

"Full equality has been denied to LGBTQ+ Americans and their families for far too long," the president said in a statement last week. "Despite the extraordinary progress the LGBTQ+ community has made to secure their basic civil rights, discrimination is still rampant in many areas of our society."

"The Equality Act provides long overdue federal civil rights protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, locking in critical safeguards in our housing, education, public services, and lending systems — and codifying the courage and resilience of the LGBTQ+ movement into enduring law," he added.

The House passed a similar bill in May of 2019 by a 236–173 vote, with 8 Republicans joining Democrats in passing the bill, but the Senate did not take up the measure. Then-president Donald Trump threatened that he would veto the act if it made it to his desk.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), who has introduced the bill every year since 2015, said on the House floor Thursday that the bill was a long time coming.

“The LGBTQ community has waited long enough,” Rep. Cicilline said. “The time has come to extend the blessings of liberty and equality to all Americans, regardless of who they are or who they love.”

“In the absence of federal civil rights protection, there are members of the LGBTQ community who are fair game in the eyes of the law to be targeted, based on sexual orientation,” Democratic Conference Chairman Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said. “That is not America.”

Opponents of the bill, which include Republicans, religious leaders, and other conservative groups, say that it would infringe upon religious freedoms and give transgender athletes unfair advantages.

"The bill may have equality in the title, but it certainly does not serve all Americans,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC). “It is a vehicle for serious, harmful consequences.”

The Supreme Court last year ruled 6-3 in Bostock v. Clay County that the Civil Rights Act applied to LGBTQ workers, encouraging civil rights activists and LGBTQ advocates to push Congress to codify these protections nationwide.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) said the act is needed to create “uniform nationwide protection” around LGBTQ rights and end the “patchwork of state laws” surrounding such issues. Pennsylvania is one of over two dozen states that does not extend protections to LGBTQ Americans.

“It’s been personal since my baby sister came out to me almost 40 years ago,” she said. “For many people all across this country and across this House, that is when the fight hits home.”

The debate has spilled out off of the House floor and into the hallways of the Capitol building this week. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) sparked outrage from colleagues Wednesday after posting an anti-trans sign outside her office, directly across the hall from the office of a House Democrat who has a transgender daughter.

Greene, who opposed the bill, on Wednesday called for a vote to adjourn the House “in order to give every Member of Congress time to rethink destroying #WomensRights and #WomensSports and #ReligiousFreedom before voting for the #EqualityAct!” she wrote on Twitter. The vote to adjourn failed.

Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL), who gave an emotional speech Wednesday about her daughter coming out as transgender, posted a video on social media placing a trans pride flag outside her office in the Longworth House Office Building.

Greene responded with her own video, where she she hangs an anti-transgender sign outside her office.

Greene also referred directly to Newman’s daughter in a tweet. 

"As mothers, we all love and support our children," Greene wrote. "But your biological son does NOT belong in my daughters' bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams.”

Several members of Congress came to Newman’s defense on social media. 

Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) called Greene’s actions, "Sickening, pathetic, unimaginably cruel. This hate is exactly why the #EqualityAct is necessary and what we must protect @RepMarieNewman’s daughter and all our LGBTQ+ loved ones against."

Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who was among 11 Republicans who voted to strip Greene of her committee assignments earlier this month, tweeted: "This is sad and I’m sorry this happened. Rep. Newman’s daughter is transgender, and this video and tweet represents the hate and fame driven politics of self-promotion at all evil costs. This garbage must end, in order to #RestoreOurGOP."

Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) wrote: "There’s no lower low than going after someone’s kids. What a horrible performance by Congress’ worst transphobic conspiracy theorist."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) pointed to the exchange as a reasoning for why the act is needed: "It breaks my heart that it is necessary, but the fact is, and in fact we had a sad event here even this morning, demonstrating the need for us to have respect."

“Not even just respect, but take pride, take pride in our LGBT community," she added.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where it faces an uphill battle, despite support from even the most moderate Democrat senators – Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), who signed a letter in support of the act last year. 

The bill would require 10 Republicans to join all 50 Senate Democrats in supporting the measure to avoid the filibuster – Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) cosponsored the bill in 2019, but it's unclear how many of her GOP colleagues would fall in line.