Equality Act is in the U.S. Senate: What’s in Store And Why Some Religions Want a Revision

The Banner has a subscription with the Associated Press to republish religion and faith content from AP, RNS, and The Conversation. This story from Religion News Service was first published there Feb. 26. The news editor has added one quote, from an article republished by the Center for Public Justice, and one line noting connections to Christian Reformed institutions, to this version.

At the end of February the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping LGBTQ rights bill called the Equality Act (H.R.5 - Equality Act).

Republicans for the most part objected, with some of them advocating instead for a  bill called Fairness for All, reintroduced by Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah on Feb. 26 with 20 Republican co-sponsors.

Both bills would ban discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. But Fairness for All would also carve out exemptions for faith-based organizations, which played a big role in drafting it.

The Equality Act in its current form is unlikely to pass in the Senate, given it will need 10 Senate Republican votes.

The Fairness for All bill is unlikely to pass in the House, given the Democratic majority there.

If the Senate were to combine provisions of both bills, such a compromise might win the signature of President Joe Biden, who said LGBTQ protections are one of his top legislative priorities for the first 100 days of his presidency.

The Equality Act had its first hearing before the Senate’s Judiciary Committee on March 17.

Here are some of the issues at stake:

What Is The Equality Act?

The bill aims to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of personal characteristics protected by federal civil rights law.

Twenty-nine states have no protections for LGBTQ people. That means people can be fired from their jobs for being LGBTQ, and landlords can refuse to rent or sell to them. They can also be denied services in a restaurant or bakery.

The Equality Act would not only ban discrimination but also deny federal funding to groups that discriminate against LGBTQ people. It would accomplish that by expanding the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which already bans discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

The bill would also expand the types of public spaces that would not be able to discriminate against LGBTQ people to include shopping malls, sports arenas, and online retailers. Right now, nondiscrimination rules cover mostly restaurants, amusement parks and hotels.

Who Opposes It?

The bill is strongly opposed by many religious groups on multiple fronts. They say houses of worship, like churches and synagogues, must be explicitly excluded from the public accommodations list, otherwise religious groups that oppose same-sex marriage might be forced to offer their fellowship halls to LGBTQ wedding ceremonies, for example.

Many groups are offering dire predictions of what might happen if the Equality Act becomes law. They say it would halt free and reduced-cost lunch programs for children who attend religious schools and threaten federal security grants for Orthodox Jewish synagogues because they oppose same-sex marriage.

Students at religious colleges that view marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman would no longer be eligible for federal student loans and grants. (About 70% of students at schools affiliated with the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities receive Pell grants and federal research grants.) The schools themselves may no longer be able to screen faculty hires for those who agree with the school’s views on marriage and human sexuality. 

The bill would also limit people’s ability to defend themselves against discrimination claims by overriding the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the 1993 law that protects the religious exercise of individuals and institutions. “By preventing the application of RFRA, the Equality Act would make the LGBT claim always win, by definition,” wrote Stanley Carlson-Thies, senior director of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, in a 2019 article reviewing the Equality Act.

Some groups also worry it would blur gender lines in women’s sports, allowing transgender women to play in women’s leagues.

What’s The Fairness For All Bill?

This bill would also provide broad protections for LGBTQ people while also protecting religious institutions that uphold traditional beliefs about marriage and sexuality.

It is modeled on the “Utah Compromise,” a 2015 state law that strengthened religious freedom and protected LGBTQ people from discrimination. Fairness for All has been championed by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the National Association of Evangelicals, which hasn’t formally endorsed it but was consulted in its drafting. The Christian Reformed Church in North America is a member of the NAE; Calvin, Redeemer, and Dordt universities are all member institutions of CCCU.

“Our coalition has always had a problem-solving mindset,” said Shirley Hoogstra, CCCU president. “We believe LGBTQ people should be treated with equity and equality in the U.S. We have Supreme Court cases that have set that up. And we know religious organizations play an important role in society and that nobody should coerce the other.”

The bill would still likely face opposition from other religious groups that oppose the idea of adding sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes. The Southern Baptist Convention and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, for example, will likely oppose Fairness for All or any bill extending LGBTQ protections.

Is A Compromise Possible?

Many centrists think so. Both bills have been introduced before and have failed. But there might be a way forward if the Senate is able to combine the major features of the Equality Act with the exemptions called for in the Fairness for All bill. 

The Senate needs 10 Republican senators to pass a revised bill. Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have been supportive of LGBTQ+ rights before. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah would likely be, too, especially since the Utah Compromise has been successful so far in that state.

Champions of a compromise point out that Americans broadly support LGBTQ protections. More than eight in 10 Americans favor laws that would protect LGBTQ people against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing, according to a 2020 PRRI American Values Survey.

By Yonat Shimron for Religion News Service