A few weeks ago, the House passed the Equality Act by a slim margin of 224-206. This past week, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on the Equality Act. If and when the bill is considered by the Senate, it will need 60 votes to pass.
Lately, sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) has seen increasing push back by not only conservative groups like Eagle Forum, but also feminist groups like the Women’s Liberation Front. This is because, SOGI, like that seen in the Equality Act, poses a grave threat to women and children by allowing males identifying as female access to women’s only spaces and institutions. As Abigail Shrier pointed out in her testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee:
“If a woman in your state commits a crime, should she be put in a correctional facility with biological males, some of whom are sex offenders? Some of whom may have only begun identifying as female weeks earlier? ALL of whom could easily overpower her.If a preschool has a policy that only female teachers may accompany little girls to the bathroom, and your daughter’s male teacher suddenly identifies as female, ought that teacher have a legal entitlement to accompany her? Does that strike anyone in this room as sensible or safe?
Should a female abuse survivor at a domestic violence shelter be forced to sleep and undress next to a biological male?
The plain truth is that it is not sensible, not safe, and certainly not just, to end these hard- won protections for women and girls in the name of equality. For some girls, athletics is the only chance they’ll have to shine in the entire course of their lives. But supporters of this bill don’t appear concerned about them. They are concerned about the progressive groups that will call you a “transphobe” or a “homophobe” if you don’t do exactly as they say and abandon women and girls.”
If enacted, the Equality Act will amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), and all the harmful policies Shrier pointed out will become everyday occurrences.
In addition, SOGI ideology would impose on businesses and strip individuals of their religious freedoms. Religious adoption and foster agencies are some of the institutions that are currently being targeted. In the case of Sharon Fulton, et al. v. City of Philadelphia, the city government stopped placing foster children in homes that partnered with Catholic Social Services based on their policy of placing children in homes where the marital unit is one man and one woman. This not only undercuts the services of the organization but disadvantages the children in need of loving homes. This case is evidence of the wide-spread consequences that proponents of “equality” legislation choose to ignore.
Our Constitution already grants basic rights to all people. Eagle Forum has successfully fought against this type of legislation for decades, beginning with the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Adding a protected class that is not even scientifically sound is harmful to every individual, including those they seek to protect.
Call or email your Senator today to ask them to vote NO on the Equality Act!
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-312
