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Happening This Week: U.S. House To Vote on Equality Act

 

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representative is expected to vote on the Equality Act, a piece of legislation that would prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ workers in the workplace.

Readers might recall that the U.S. Supreme Court had issued a previous ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia in which the Court held that an employer that terminates an employer for being gay or transgender violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  While the U.S. House had approved a version of the Equality Act last session which would have codified the Court’s ruling from Bostock, the legislation never made it past the Senate with Senate Republicans grounding the bill.

With the new legislative session starting recently, however, the Equality Act was reintroduced in the House.  With a vote expected to take place on Thursday, it is widely expected the legislation will obtain a majority vote and make it to the Senate.  (After all, Democrats still have majority control of the House.)  Upon arrival in the Senate is when things get tricky.  In order to avoid a filibuster on the Equality Act (which would likely kill the bill), supporters of the legislation would need at least 60 votes.  Even with Democrats regaining majority control of the Senate during the 2020 elections, they do not have enough votes to avoid a filibuster...unless they can get some Republican Senators to support the Equality Act.  Even if Democrats can get a few Republican Senators to jump to the other side, I highly doubt they will get the votes needed to avoid a filibuster.

While the Equality Act certainly has a better chance of becoming law now than it did during the last legislative session, there is still much doubt that the legislation will make it to President Joe Biden’s desk for signature.


For additional information:  https://www.hrc.org/news/lgbtq-equality-is-a-unifying-issue-for-our-nation-equality-act-reintroduced-in-congress

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