Democratic lawmakers will reintroduce
legislation this month that prohibits LGBT discrimination nationwide.
According to BuzzFeed News, out Rhode
Island Representative David Cicilline will sponsor the bill in the
House, while Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley will reintroduce the measure
in the Senate.
“It's important for Americans to know
whether members of Congress support full equality for our community
or whether they support continued discrimination against LGBT
Americans,” Cicilline said.
“Every member of Congress should have
to be counted and show exactly where they stand: either for or
against full equality for all Americans,” Merkley said. “In
2017, any elected leader who wants to use their position to maintain
outdated and discriminatory policies should have to stand up and
explain why.”
First introduced in 2015, the Equality
Act seeks to prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination in seven key areas,
including credit, education, employment, federal funding, housing,
jury service and public accommodations, by effectively expanding the
Civil Rights Act, originally approved in 1964.
Republican leaders, however, swept the
bill aside, refusing to give it a committee hearing.
“If Republicans in Washington want to
keep standing in the doorway of opportunity, they'll have to answer
to their constituents in just two short years,” Cicilline
added.
(Related: Majority
of Americans oppose transgender bathroom bills; support LGBT
protections.)