WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) helped introduce the Equality Act, which explicitly prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in education, employment, housing, credit, jury service, public accommodations, and the use of federal funds. The legislation amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Jury Selection and Services Act, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Rosen supported the House companion to the Equality Act last Congress.
“Despite the progress we’ve made, members of the LGBTQ community are still not fully protected by our country’s current anti-discrimination laws,” said Senator Rosen. “From revoking discrimination protections for transgender children in public schools to attempting to render the LGBTQ community invisible in the census, this legislation will help close the legal loopholes that allow for discrimination to take place in the first place. I proudly supported the Equality Act in the House and am supporting this legislation in the Senate so that we can create more open, loving, and tolerant communities for all.”
BACKGROUND: Senator Rosen has been a staunch ally of LGBTQ Americans since coming to Congress, receiving perfect scores from the Human Rights Campaign each year she has been in office. In addition to co-sponsoring the Equality Act, in the House Senator Rosen was an original co-sponsor of legislation to prohibit the advertising and practice of for-profit LGBTQ conversion therapy and a bill placing sanctions on foreign individuals complicit in human rights abuses against members of the LGBTQ community. She was also a co-sponsor of the Do No Harm Act (H.R. 3222), which would ensure that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act cannot be used as a shield to allow companies to discriminate against individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
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