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5 Things You Need To Know About The Extremist ‘Equality Act’ House Democrats Just Passed
By Margot Cleveland for The Federalist
Adding ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ to the list of protected classes may seem straightforward enough, but the proposed law does more—much more.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed the so-called Equality Act by a vote of 224 to 206. While Democrats have marketed this legislation as a simple civil rights law designed to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination, it is far from that.
The statutory language instead provides for an extreme remaking of all aspects of society, destroys the promise of equality for women, and threatens religious liberty and the privacy rights of all Americans, especially children. The proposed law also will upend state and federal protections of the unborn—yes, the Equality Act is about abortion too.
Here are the five facts about the Equality Act Americans need to know.
1. The Equality Act Is Deceptively Simple
The statutory language of the Equality Act seems simple enough, with the proposed law adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of protected classes in the five major parts, called titles, of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, the Equality Act would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to: Title II, which addresses discrimination in public accommodations; Title III, which covers public facilities; Title IV, which regulates public education; Title VI, which requires nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs; and Title VII, which prohibits discrimination in employment.
“Sexual orientation” and “gender identity” would also be added to the Fair Housing Act, the Equality Credit Opportunity Act, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
2. The Devil Is in the Details
Adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of protected classes may seem straightforward enough, but the proposed law does more—much more. These additional provisions will prove devastating on many levels.
The breadth of The Equality Act flows, in part, from the proposed law’s expansion of various definitions throughout all titles of the Civil Rights Act. The term “sex” is redefined to include “sex stereotype,” “sex characteristics,” “sexual orientation,” and “gender identity,” as well as “pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.” “Gender identity” is defined broadly to “mean[] the gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s designated sex at birth.”
The proposed Equality Act also redefines or expands several terms within each separate title of the Civil Rights Act. For instance, “public accommodations” will now include not merely stadiums but “any other place of or establishment that provides exhibition, entertainment, recreation, exercise, amusement, public gathering, or public display,” and “any establishment that provides a good, service, or program, including a store, shopping center, online retailer or service provider, salon, bank, gas station, food bank, service or care center, shelter, travel agency, or funeral parlor, or establishment that provides health care, accounting, or legal services,” as well as “any train service, bus service, car service, taxi service, airline service, station, depot, or other place of or establishment that provides transportation service.”
Of particular significance is The Equality Act’s express statement that “an establishment “shall not be construed to be limited to a physical facility or place,” as that language has the potential to reach federal, state, and private health insurance coverage and plans.
The Equality Act then adds four significant substantive provisions to federal law. First, the proposed law provides that “pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition shall not receive less favorable treatment than other physical conditions.”
Next, The Equality Act provides that “an individual shall not be denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual’s gender identity.’” Third, where sex is a bona fide occupational qualification, such as with personal caregivers in nursing homes, the act would require an employee to be considered qualified for that position, based on his or her gender identity, and not his or her sex.
Finally, the bill provides that The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 “shall not provide a claim concerning, or a defense to a claim under,” under The Equality Act, “or provide a basis for challenging the application or enforcement of a covered title.’’
3. The Gender Identity Provisions Are Extreme
The gender identity provisions of the proposed Equality Act are extreme in multiple ways. First, the statutory definition of “gender identity” incorporates language that is both anti-science and antithetical to Judeo-Christian teachings.
By casting an individual’s sex as something merely “designated” “at birth,” The Equality Act ignores the scientific reality of “the inherent, indelible biological differences between male and female [that] go far beyond external genitalia….Each cell in our body has a sex—the same sex, male or female.” It also ignores the theological understanding of the human person as a unity of body and soul.
While Americans may shrug at The Equality Act’s Orwellian use of language, they will be made to care because the proposed law defines “gender identity” so broadly that there is no limit to whom may demand to be treated legally as the opposite sex.
“Gender identity,” according to the act, “means the gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s designated sex at birth.” Anyone, at any time, could declare a gender identity contrary to biological reality.
This conclusion is not some conservative conspiracy theory, either. Here’s what the leftist Women’s Liberation Front says about the broad definition of gender identity: “The bill doesn’t mention individuals with clinically diagnosed gender dysphoria, or undertaking surgical or hormonal transition, thus making clear that self-declared gender identity would be sufficient to claim protected legal status.”
The broad definition of “gender identity” is but a part of the problem: The bill’s substantive provisions will devastate the privacy rights of all Americans, especially girls and women.
Under the proposed law, an employer would be required to treat a man who identifies as a woman as a woman for purposes of sensitive jobs, such as law enforcement officials involved in strip searches or supervisors of locker rooms, or handling intimate care in hospitals or long-term care facility. The law currently allows prisoners, patients, or customers to require the government, hospitals, or businesses to staff those positions with an individual of the same sex. The Equality Act would instead mandate that employers allow men who identify as women to perform such invasive tasks.
The law would also require virtually every restroom, locker room, and dressing room in America to be open to individuals of the opposite sex, in accordance instead with the individual’s claimed gender identity. As the Women’s Liberation Front explained:
This means that American women will no longer be able to expect any single-sex facilities when using or being required to stay in:
Shared hospital rooms or wards
Locker rooms and public or group showers
Multi-stall bathrooms
Jails, prisons, or juvenile detention facilities
Homeless shelters
Overnight drug rehabilitation centers
Domestic violence or rape crisis shelters
It is not just American women—it is American girls. Whether in elementary, middle, or high school, in gymnasiums or swimming facilities, young girls will no longer have a guarantee of privacy or security.
The Equality Act will also require sports competitions and scholarship programs designated for girls and women to admit males if they proclaim a female gender identity, further harming women.
4. The Equality Act Is Also About Abortion
Although not mentioned by name (or euphemism) in The Equality Act, “abortion” is also part and parcel of this proposed law. To understand this reality requires a brief legal primer on the current law concerning sex and pregnancy discrimination.
As Richard Doerfinger explained in his must-read article, “The ‘Equality Act’: Threatening Life and Equality,” Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits sex discrimination. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 amended that provision to prohibit discrimination based on “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions” in employment, including in the provision of health insurance. Title VII, however, expressly provided that an employer was not required “to pay for health insurance benefits for abortion, except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term . . .”
In contrast, while the Equality Act also defines sex to include “pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition,” it includes no exclusion related to abortion, as there was in Title VII. Significantly, “The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, and at least one federal appellate court have held that “medical conditions ‘related’ to pregnancy includes abortion.” Thus, the Equality Act’s ban on pregnancy discrimination is also a ban on discrimination related to abortion.
In the employment context of Title VII, this language had a minimal effect, given employers are expressly exempt from providing health insurance coverage for abortion. Yet the Equality Act would add a prohibition of discrimination related to abortion in public accommodations, public facilities, public education, and federal-assisted programs.
Further, the Equality Act makes clear that “pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition shall not receive less favorable treatment than other physical conditions.” Finally, recall that the Equality Act expressly provides that “the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 shall not provide a claim concerning, or a defense to a claim under,” under the Equality Act, “or provide a basis for challenging the application or enforcement of a covered title.’’
Together, these three aspects of the act would devastate the cause of life. States, local government agencies, educational institutions, and health-care organizations all receive federal funds, and under The Equality Act’s plain language could be required fund abortions. As a federal statute, the Equality Act would trump state bans on such funding, and as a later adopted statute it could put the Hyde Amendment at risk. Private, and even religious, health-care facilities could be forced to provide abortions on equal terms with other medical care.
Of course, religious organizations could seek refuge in the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, but it was the Supreme Court’s cramped interpretation of that protection that prompted bipartisan passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The Democratic-controlled Congress, however, with passage of the Equality Act, would gut the protection of religious liberty.
5. Absent A Massive Outcry, the Equality Act Will Pass
Absent an outcry from average Americans, that is exactly the outcome our country faces.
President Biden campaigned on making passage of the Equality Act a legislative priority in his first 100 days of office. In May 2019 the House of Representatives passed The Equality Act, in a vote of 236 to 173, with the unanimous support of Democrats and eight Republicans crossing the aisle to vote in favor of the Bill. The Republican-led Senate kept the bill from reaching the floor, but the Senate companion legislation garnered 47 sponsors, including Republican Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
The bill has again passed the House, and President Biden has promised to sign it into law, leaving the Senate as the last hurdle. With Democrats now controlling the legislative agenda in the Senate, the bill will assuredly see the floor for debate. The question then becomes whether Democrats will retain the 60-vote requirement to end filibusters of legislation, and if so, whether Biden’s party can reach 50 votes with the help of Vice President Vice Kamala Harris.
While things could go either way, given that Democrats have so far succeeded in framing the Equality Act as a civil rights law necessary to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination, passage seems likely—unless average Americans demand defeat of this extremist legislation. For there to be an outcry, however, the public must realize what is at stake. But will they before it is too late?
Margot Cleveland is a senior contributor to The Federalist. Cleveland served nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk to a federal appellate judge and is a former full-time faculty member and adjunct instructor at the college of business at the University of Notre Dame. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.
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BREAKING: US House passes pro-abortion ‘Equality Act’ to write transgenderism into civil rights law
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-us-house-passes-pro-abortion-equality-act
‘We are witnessing the greatest assault on religious freedom, biological reality, and parental rights ever seen in the U.S. Congress.’
By Claire Chretien for LifeSiteNews
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS: Tell them to oppose the Equality Act!
Click to contact your federal politicians now.
WASHINGTON, February 25, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The U.S. House of Representatives voted 224 to 206 today to pass the “Equality Act,” which would write transgenderism into federal civil rights law, compel medical professionals to commit abortions and transgender surgeries, and expand taxpayer-funded abortion on demand.
“On occasion, Congressional leaders will purposely misname a piece of legislation to disguise its true intention. The Equality Act is the epitome of this misrepresentation,” said Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), who voted against the bill. “Should this bill become law, the wellbeing of our children, the role of parents, the privacy and safety of vulnerable women, the competitive edge of female athletes, the livelihoods of charities and businesses, and the integrity of our healthcare system will all be jeopardized. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Three Republicans voted for the conscience-crushing legislation: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Rep. John Katko of New York, and Rep. Tom Reed of New York. All House Democrats voted in favor of it.
“We are witnessing the greatest assault on religious freedom, biological reality, and parental rights ever seen in the U.S. Congress,” reacted Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. “The Act demands that faith be quarantined within your mind and says that’s where it must stay. However, Bible believers cannot set God’s Word aside to bow before the Equality Act.”
Abortion funding, crackdown on religious institutions, demolition of women’s sports
“This Trojan horse legislation makes a mockery of equality by enshrining a ‘right’ to abortion, the greatest violation of human rights today,” commented Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony List. “Catering to the most extreme elements of the abortion lobby, the bill’s definition of sex discrimination equates abortion with pregnancy and childbirth. If Democrats succeed in rolling back even modest pro-life protections, health care workers and institutions will be forced to participate in abortions.”
The bill, which the Catholic League’s Bill Donahue called “the most comprehensive assault on Christianity ever written into law,” would be used “as a sword to persecute those who do not embrace new sexual and gender ideologies,” said Ryan Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Anderson noted the Equality Act “sacrifices the equality, safety, and privacy of women, while privileging men who identify as women: If this bill becomes law, they’d have a civil right to spend the night in a battered women’s shelter, disrobe in a women’s locker room, and compete on a women’s sports team — even children at K-12 public schools.”
“Religious institutions fare no better,” continued Anderson. “Religious schools, adoption agencies, and other charities would face federal sanction for operating according to basic biology and mainstream Biblical teaching on sex and marriage. Outrageously, this act exempts itself from the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”
Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, called the Equality Act “a club to punish dissent.”
“As has been noted numerous times by now, this legislation would be devastating for women’s rights, forcing female athletes to compete against biological males and opening private women’s spaces to men, including bathrooms, locker rooms, and shelters,” said Terry Schilling of the American Principles Project.
The bill will need 60 votes to pass the U.S. Senate, unless Democrats change procedural rules and “nuke” the filibuster. Republicans could have done this in 2017 when they held the House, Senate, and White House, and thus easily enacted sweeping pro-life and conservative reforms, but they did not.
Eliminating the filibuster has long been a goal of the far-left, though. Just days ago, pro-abortion Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) tweeted, “If we don’t get rid of the filibuster, Senate Republicans could block progress on … the Equality Act.”
RELATED:
5 things to know about the anti-family Equality Act that could pass this week
Democrat Equality Act ‘the most comprehensive assault on Christianity ever written into law’
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PASSAGE OF THE ‘EQUALITY ACT’ WILL MAKE THE BIBLE A BANNED BOOK WITH CHRISTIANS IN PRISON FOR PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD
https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/passage-of-equality-act-will-make-king-james0bible-a-banned-book-in-america-christian-persecution/
In a letter sent Friday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the CJV argued that according to the Equality Act, a person is deemed “bigoted” if he or she adheres to traditional Jewish doctrine. For example, the text refers to “the sex stereotype that marriage should only be between heterosexual couples” as a discriminatory belief. Per the letter: The Equality Act expressly declares that the Book of Genesis and all of the Jewish laws pertaining to marriage as a sanctified union between man and woman are nothing more than engagement in discriminatory stereotypes. This is a disgraceful attack upon Jewish Biblical beliefs, rendered no more excusable by the fact that other traditional religious groups have similar tenets.
by Geoffrey Grider for Now The End Begins
The Equality Act is the first time in history that legislation would deny protections found in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The CJV letter concludes: “The Equality Act has the potential to bring the United States’ centuries-long history of respecting and providing robust protection for our religious beliefs and liberties to an abrupt and ignominious end.“
Passage of the dystopian Equality Act will usher in a time of Christian persecution America has not yet ever experienced, and yes, the Equality Act will put bible believers in prison for preaching the gospel of the grace of God. Your King James Bible, something that the Equality Act refers to as ‘bigoted reading material’ will no longer be allowed as part of the public discourse. For all of you ‘post toasties’ who insist of going through the Tribulation, you will get your chance to experience a little of what that will be like.
“But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. And the gospel must first be published among all nations. But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Mark 13:9-11, 13 (KJB)
We have warned for over a decade of the coming onslaught of the LGBTQ+P for Pedophile Mafia, with hundreds of articles ripped from the headlines showing you the battle that has been raging. When NTEB started back in 2009, the number of people in America who identified as LGBT was right around 2.3%, a Gallup poll out today show that number has nearly tripled to 5.6%. Why such a dramatic rise? Because they have spent the last decade recruiting children, indoctrinating them in elementary schools, and places like Drag Queen Story Hour and everywhere else. Joe Biden pledged to be the ‘transgender president’ on Day One, and fully supports this demonic Equality Act nonsense.
“Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” Galatians 4:16 (KJB)
It is the sworn duty of bible believers around this world to warn the lost like the LGBTQ+ people that Hell is real, and without salvation in Jesus Christ they will most assuredly go there when they die. Doing that for lost people is the greatest act of love you can ever show them, because it gives them a chance to escape Hell by trusting on Jesus Christ who paid their sin debt on the cross.
The Equality Act will turn witnessed and preaching into a hate crime, that is not hyperbole, that is a guaranteed fact. Listen to me, brothers and sisters, we are in a war that is absolutely real and has eternal consequences. Whose side are you on?
Equality Act calls Bible a bigoted document, says rabbinic group
FROM ISRAELI NATIONAL NEWS: The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing over 1500 traditional, Orthodox rabbis in matters of public policy, called today for the rejection of the Equality Act as “a direct attack on Jewish religious values and practices.” The Equality Act, H.R. 5, is slated for votes on Thursday in the House of Representatives.
In a letter sent Friday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the CJV argued that according to the Equality Act, a person is deemed “bigoted” if he or she adheres to traditional Jewish doctrine. For example, the text refers to “the sex stereotype that marriage should only be between heterosexual couples” as a discriminatory belief. Per the letter:
THE EQUALITY ACT EXPRESSLY DECLARES THAT THE BOOK OF GENESIS AND ALL OF THE JEWISH LAWS PERTAINING TO MARRIAGE AS A SANCTIFIED UNION BETWEEN MAN AND WOMAN (CALLED “KIDDUSHIN” IN HEBREW, FROM THE WORD “KADOSH,” HOLY) ARE NOTHING MORE THAN ENGAGEMENT IN DISCRIMINATORY STEREOTYPES. THIS IS A DISGRACEFUL ATTACK UPON JEWISH BIBLICAL BELIEFS, RENDERED NO MORE EXCUSABLE BY THE FACT THAT OTHER TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS GROUPS HAVE SIMILAR TENETS.
The letter also lists numerous elements of normative observant Jewish practices which would be grounds for a discrimination complaint under the proposed legislation, including separate seating at weddings, single-gender dancing, and even separate hours for swimming. “A law which would require recognition of the gender a person prefers to be… would demand we cease to operate in accordance with our sincerely-held beliefs, moral values and religious education — expressly violating our religious liberty,” the rabbis said.
“It is outrageous that Congress would declare us bigoted for simply maintaining our time-honored traditions,” said Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, Chairman of the CJV Rabbinic Circle. “And it is no mere insult; the law even explicitly rejects religious freedom as a defense, meaning it provides Anti-Semites with a new way to persecute the religious Jewish community.”
Indeed, the Equality Act is the first time in history that legislation would deny protections found in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The CJV letter concludes: “The Equality Act has the potential to bring the United States’ centuries-long history of respecting and providing robust protection for our religious beliefs and liberties to an abrupt and ignominious end.“
READ MORE HERE:
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/297447