Over 200 Members of Congress File Federal LGBTQ-Rights Bill
Source: NBC News
In a majority of U.S. states, it's legal for a business to put a sign in the window saying "no gays allowed."
While such a scenario seems unlikely in 2017, it could happen. That's because lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are not included in the nondiscrimination protections provided by the federal Civil Rights Act, and in 30 states, there are no state laws that protect LGBTQ Americans from discrimination.
But a bipartisan federal bill introduced Tuesday could change that. If passed, the Equality Act would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — which currently bans discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion and national origin.
Forty-six Democratic senators led the charge to propose the legislation on Tuesday, along with 194 members of the House. An introduction ceremony in Washington, D.C., was led by Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, openly lesbian Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, along with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and a slew of LGBTQ advocates.
Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/over-200-members-of-congress-file-federal-lgbtq-rights-bill/ar-BBAESke?li=BBnb7Kz
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It's pretty much the only way to get this codified nationally absent a Constitutional Amendment. Of course in order to actually get it brought up for a vote, we would need to take over at least one of the chambers of Congress because the GOP will most certainly stonewall it.
