Democratic lawmakers in both chambers of Congress introduced legislation on Thursday that they said would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination.
The Equality Act of 2015, unveiled by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), would outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations and financial services.
{mosads}”Discrimination, bigotry and intolerance should have no place in America in 2015,” Cicilline told reporters.
The bill has 40 co-sponsors in the Senate and 155 co-sponsors in the House, all Democrats.
But Merkley said the principles of non-discrimination are broadly supported on both sides of the aisle. He pointed to Republicans who have in the past voted for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
“In this country, we believe that all of us are free to be equal, that we have certain unalienable rights, yet today many of our citizens do not receive equal treatment and they do not receive equal rights not because of anything they have done, but because of who they are — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,” he said.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D), the first openly gay Congressman to be elected from New York, had a message for his Republicans colleagues: “Join us.”
“To those that still oppose us, we ask you to look into your hearts and to look into the future because history will judge very harshly your decision in the next few weeks about your position on this bill,” he said. “There is still time to do the right thing.”
Though 17 states and the District of Columbia have broad laws in place that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and another four states offer partial protections, it is legal in 28 states to discriminate against LGBT people.
The Supreme Court issued a historic ruling in June that made gay marriage legal across the country, but advocates for LGBT rights say a person can get married on Saturday and still be fired from their job, denied a mortgage or kicked out of a restaurant the following Monday.
“This paradox is a indefensible, unsustainable and runs contrary to our values as a country, said Winnie Stachelberg, executive vice president of external affairs of the Center for American Progress.
“The discrimination faced by LGBT Americans is not hypothetical. This is a national problem that needs a national solution.”