Ahead of House Passage of Equality Act, IFPTE Sends Letter Urging Passage of This Key Civil Rights Bill

Today’s passage of the Equality Act in the House of Representatives represents a significant step forward for extending federal civil rights protections to all Americans.

This legislation, which is sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) and passed the House with bipartisan support on Thursday, updates he Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other federal civil rights laws to include prohibitions on discrimination against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Ahead of the floor vote, IFPTE sent a strong letter of support for the Equality Act urging Representatives to pass the bill. The letter notes that while IFPTE and labor unions provide anti-discriminatory protections for all workers, including LGBTQ people, those protections for IFPTE members and all people in the U.S. must extend beyond the workplace. The Equity Act’s commonsense reforms of U.S. federal civil rights laws ensure LGBTQ people have the same protections under the law in all aspects of our society.

The bill now moves to the Senate and IFPTE joins with the broad cross-section of labor unions, civil and human rights organizations, economic justice organizations, and LGBTQ groups in working to build support for its passage and enactment into law.

Read IFPTE’s letter to the House urging the passage of the Equality Act here [PDF].