Biden Throws His Full Support Behind Bill Granting Equality To All LGBTQ+ Americans

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:32 pm

President Biden released a statement praising the Equality Act, which is legislation that would grant full equality to all LGBTQ+ Americans.

In a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, President Biden said:

I applaud Congressman David Cicilline and the entire Congressional Equality Caucus for introducing the Equality Act in the House of Representatives yesterday, and I urge Congress to swiftly pass this historic legislation. Every person should be treated with dignity and respect, and this bill represents a critical step toward ensuring that America lives up to our foundational values of equality and freedom for all.

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Full equality has been denied to LGBTQ+ Americans and their families for far too long. Despite the extraordinary progress the LGBTQ+ community has made to secure their basic civil rights, discrimination is still rampant in many areas of our society. The Equality Act provides long overdue federal civil rights protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, locking in critical safeguards in our housing, education, public services, and lending systems — and codifying the courage and resilience of the LGBTQ+ movement into enduring law.

On my first day in office, I was proud to sign an Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation. I directed agencies to implement the Supreme Court’s Bostock ruling, and fully enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. Now, it’s time for Congress to secure these protections once and for all by passing the Equality Act — because no one should ever face discrimination or live in fear because of who they are or whom they love.

The Equality Act would provide full and explicit anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ+ community in areas like housing, credit, employment, public spaces and services, and federal programs. These are basic rights that don’t exist for many LGBTQ+ people in parts of the country.

There are no federal civil rights protections, which isn’t surprising when it took centuries for African-Americans and other race-based minorities to get civil rights legislation. People with disabilities didn’t have civil rights until the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, and women still don’t have a civil rights bill, which is astounding that a majority of the country does not have explicit comprehensive civil rights protection, but is instead reliant on a patchwork of federal measures.

Joe Biden has been a president of action on civil rights early in his term. President Biden is moving America forward, but there is still much more work that needs to be done.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association