Family Equality joins the LGBTQ+ community in celebrating the historic passage of the Equality Act in the US House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. – One week after it was introduced, 224 members of Congress of both parties have voted in favor of the Equality Act, marking its passage in the U.S. House of Representatives. The comprehensive bill will add nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans into federal civil rights laws and strengthen protections for all people, including women, religious minorities, and people of color.
“Family Equality commends the US House of Representatives for passing this landmark piece of legislation and working to ensure that LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit families from across the country are treated equally no matter who they are, whom they love, how their families were formed, and what their parents look like,” says Denise Brogan-Kator, CEO (Interim) and Chief Policy Officer at Family Equality. “We now call upon the Senate to act quickly to pass the Equality Act, get it to the President’s desk for signature, and enshrine nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people in federal law.”
“Our LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit youth and parents urgently need the Senate to pass the Equality Act. 1 in 3 youth in foster care identify as LGBTQ+, and LGBTQ+ families, foster parents, and relatives are routinely discriminated against in child welfare, which ends up hurting children. The Equality Act will protect these young people and families from discrimination in child welfare services and will bar conversion therapy, which far too many LGBTQ+ youth in care are subjected to,” says Julie Kruse, Director of Federal Policy at Family Equality.
About Family Equality
Family Equality advances legal and lived equality for LGBTQ+ families, and for those who wish to form them, through building community, changing hearts and minds, and driving policy change. Family Equality believes every LGBTQ+ person should have the right and opportunity to form and sustain a loving family, regardless of who they are or where they live. Learn more at familyequality.org.
# # #
Press Contact
Anna Libertin,
Chief Communications Officer (Interim)/
646-880-3005 ext. 157
communications@familyequality.org