March 19, 2021
Rev. Marian Edmonds-Allen & Derek Monson

Another year, another Congress, another attempt to enact LGBTQ+ equality legislation that has no hope of succeeding. If LGBTQ+ Americans are to gain federal protections for their sexual orientation and gender identity, it will only be because responsible centrist senators — such as Democrat Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, and Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Mitt Romney — strike a compromise to save the Equality Act from the failed strategy of its supporters.

The current version of the Equality Act, recently passed by the House of Representatives, is a partisan one. It would create federal anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity while explicitly reducing federal religious freedom protections. The former idea has bipartisan appeal, while the latter does not.

Unsurprisingly, the partisan version of the Equality Act passed along mostly partisan lines, just like it did in the last Congress, and has no hope of becoming law.