The Equality Act passed the House again, but is likely to die in the Senate
March 3, 2021
For the second time in two years H.R.5, popularly known as the “Equality Act,” has passed through the House of Representatives, but is predicted to lose in the upcoming Senate vote.
If passed, the bill would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protection under the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
In 2019 the Equality Act passed through the House of Representative with a 236-173 vote, divided largely across party lines, but still garnering some bipartisan support.
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The latest vote count of 224-206 showed a far greater partisan divide and only three Republicans joined a united Democratic party in support of the bill.
Supporters of the bill stress the importance of adding the new wording to the Civil Rights Act as a means of solidifying the protections it would afford.
Those Those who oppose the Equality Act say it would harm religious freedoms and endanger sex-based rights afforded to women.
“Without question, we need to provide for protections for LGBTQ Americans, and at the same time, defend religious liberties,” Adam Kinzinger, a Republican Rep. from Illinois, said in a press release.
Prior to the House vote on H.R.5, Rep. Marie Newman (IL-3) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14), whose offices are across from one another, had a dispute over Twitter.
Newman posted a video of herself placing a Trans flag outside her door, in response Greene put up a sign reading “There Are Two Genders: MALE & FEMALE,” leading to criticism from within her own party.
“The right time to pass this act was decades ago, the second best time is right now,” Newman said.
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All of Illinois Representatives vote along party lines in both 2019 and 2021.
Illinois’s Democratic Senators Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth cosigned the bill and are unlikely to change their position.
Despite all the publicity and a Senate now controlled by Democrats, the Equality Act will likely see the same result as 2019.
Even GOP moderates Susan Collins, who cosponsored the bill in 2019, and Mitt Romney are unlikely to cross party lines for the upcoming vote.
With the filibuster available and Republicans holding more than forty seats in the Senate, there is little chance H.R.5 will reach President Biden’s desk where he promised, should it pass, he would sign it into law.
Staff reporter George Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]
To stay up to date with all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.
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Jon schroeder • Jun 18, 2021 at 12:35 pm
The bill elevates sexual orientation and gender identity to protected class status. I don’t want boys competing as girls in sports or them going in the girls bathrooms. There is a clear line between male and female that must be maintained.
David Love • Jun 10, 2021 at 2:38 pm
This equality Act is a socialist practice and will destroy christian liberties. It is evil.
Anthy Hammond • Jun 9, 2021 at 9:25 pm
H.R.5 would destroy Christian values And everything that this nation has ever stood for. It would destroy free speech destroy the unborn and would fail to protect innocent Americans. A child of eight or nine years old does not have the mental ability to determine if they need a sex change or not. God made us all and made us with the gender he intended us to have. We do not have the right to have this surgically changed. God does not make mistakes! The gender he gives us is the gender we should keep .The constitution would no longer be worth the paper it is written on, and we as Americans must stand for what is right and for that Bible that’ so many presidents in the past has stood upon and made it a part of our lives. Please vote against this bill and show the people of America that we stand for the God of the Bible and what the Bible says. Thank you very much.
Bonnie Whelan • May 17, 2021 at 2:13 pm
This equality act takes away religious freedom and targets churches.targets every part of out life’s.this is being used to empower the lgbt agenda to transform every area of life and punish any one who disagrees.with them Vote against this bill thank you
Delbert Weets • May 11, 2021 at 5:25 pm
Please vote against the HR 5 Equality Act
This is for Hon Tina Smith & Hon Amy Klobuchar Minnesota senators
It is against all my beliefs
Susan Weetd • May 11, 2021 at 5:22 pm
Do not pass the HR Equslity act. This is for Hon Tina Smith & Hon Amy Klobuchar. Minnesota senators. It is against everything I believe in.
Loretta Beech • Apr 22, 2021 at 8:35 pm
The Equality Act is outrageous. It takes women’s rights away and threatens our freedom of religion. No one has the right to pass such a bill. It will do so much harm to our children. It’s time for America to repent and turn back to God. God have mercy on us.
America is going to reap what it sows. God will bring judgement. It’s a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. Best beg for mercy before it’s too late. I am not a fanatic, but a very concerned citizen of the USA.
Sarah C • Mar 22, 2021 at 2:59 pm
As a queer woman, this means a lot to me. I want to feel safe in this country. If I’m not allowed to have equal rights because of Christians, those aren’t real Christians
John K White • Mar 15, 2021 at 9:09 am
Edit of earlier version. My apologies.
▪ I agree that the Equality Act will most likely not pass and die in the Senate. Why? Because of the Act’s extension of what “public accommodations” means under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under the extension, it will easily cover big tech platforms; and, would define them as not being able to cancel-culture those they don’t like—Rather like the wedding cake rule: The Colorado baker who didn’t like gay couples can cancel them it wants to despite the bakers reliance on public tax infrastructure to profit from his business.
Not to make too fine a point here, in the defeat of the Equality Act, big tech platforms can continue their use of the wedding cake rule to do what they want to people who they don’t like because of some intolerance they have towards the people. They do this by using their public accommodation property to cancel culture whoever they want.
So, the new public accommodations extension will reach big tech platforms and their cancel culture. AND that is why the Equality Act will be defeated. Both corporate leaning Democrats and Republicans like the way they can use—with plausible deniability—big tech platforms lije Google and Facebook and Twitter, etc., in managing corporate controlled government in America.
Peaches F. Lewis • Mar 8, 2021 at 8:48 am
Behind every action there follows a consequence. The Equality Act bill shouldn’t be passed because of the aftermath it will have on our nation. There’s always a serious consequence when a nation deliberately turns against the divine ordinance of the one and only; true and living Almighty God. Our true right is found in the authentic word; which is the Holy Bible.
Carolyn Burger • Mar 7, 2021 at 11:22 am
Do not want this Equality Actor Pass
Tina Medeiros • Mar 6, 2021 at 10:54 pm
The equality act is bad news.