Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) has introduced a bill in Senate -- the Equality Act -- that would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also extends protections from discrimination against women and prohibits the use of religion to discriminate.
It would apply broadly to include employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, and jury pools. It specifically states that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act can't be invoked to override any of the protections of the Civil Rights Act.
Sen. Merkley was able to pass a similar bill in Oregon in 2007 when he was Speaker of the Oregon legislative House. Thus far, the federal bill has 40 co-sponsors in the Senate and 155 in the House. All are either Democrats or Independents. With Republicans in control of both Senate and House, it probably won't even get a committee hearing.
But, if the Democrats retake control of the Senate in 2016, the Equality Act will be ready.
Ralph
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment