House passes controversial LGBT bill

The so-called Equality Act would write LGBT protections into civil rights statutes, prioritizing them over religious liberty. The Democratic-led House passed the sweeping bill mostly along party lines on Thursday.

What would the bill do? Last year, the Supreme Court ruled employers could not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The Equality Act would extend those nondiscrimination rules to many other areas without adding religious freedom protections. A virtually identical bill passed the House in 2019 but never got a vote in the then-GOP-controlled Senate. Democrats now have a slim majority in the upper chamber, but 10 Republicans would have to back the bill to get it past a filibuster. It will likely die in the Senate again.

Dig deeper: Read Steve West’s analysis of the bill in Liberties.