Rep. Donna Shalala (FL-27) kept her promise to strengthen LGBTQ rights today by voting for H.R. 5, the Equality Act, landmark legislation that would extend anti-discrimination protections to the LGBTQ community with regard to employment, education, access to credit, jury service, federal funding, housing, public accommodations, and more.

“In Florida and many other states, LGBTQ Americans are still at risk of being fired, evicted and denied services because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Today, we have taken a crucial step in ending this injustice,” said Rep. Shalala. “With the passage of this bill, we uphold the human rights of LGBTQ individuals across the country, asserting that no American should face discrimination based on who they are or who they love.”

The Equality Act builds on decades of civil rights legislation, including the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Fair Housing Act. While federal courts and administrative agencies have already taken some steps to extend sex discrimination protections to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the Equality Act codifies these interpretations into law. This explicit prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity provides clarity for employers, schools, businesses, and the public. In areas where sex discrimination is not already prohibited, the bill amends existing law to bar discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

The Equality Act has bipartisan support in Congress and the endorsement of over 200 major companies operating across all 50 states, over 45 trade organizations, and over 500 statewide and national organizations. Most importantly, the bill has the overwhelming support of the American people – with over seven in ten Americans supporting the Equality Act. </s> The U.S. House passed legislation Friday that would expand Federal civil rights protections on basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as it stands, only explicitly provides protections for race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The legislation, entitled The Equality Act, would provide the aforementioned identities with protections related to public accommodations, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system.

All five Minnesota Democrats in the House cosponsored the bill. It passed 236-173, with four Minnesota Democrats voting in favor and all three Minnesota Republicans voting against the bill. Rep. Collin Peterson cosponsored the bill, but was the only Democrat in the Minnesota delegation who did not vote.

Eight House Republicans in total voted for the bill, with two of them cosponsoring the legislation: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Rep. John Katko of New York.

“This landmark legislation will protect all LGBTQ Americans from discrimination in employment, housing, access to public places, federal funding, credit, education and jury service,” said Rep. Betty McCollum, MN-3“Minnesota has outlawed employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation since 1993, and it’s long past time the federal government do the same.”

A handful of states already similar protections to those found in the House bill and Minnesota is one such state. The Minnesota Human Rights Act was first passed in 1973, but amended in 1993 to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, making it the first law in the country to do so.

Minnesota Commissioner Commissioner of Human Rights Rebecca Lucero said her department uses litigation as a tool to protect all Minnesotans from discrimination, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. “We know there is a lot of work to be done in Minnesota and across the country to breakdown implicit and explicit bias and violence, especially against trans women of color and gender nonconforming individuals,” she said.

Explicit protections related to gender identity, like those that would be put into place by The Equality Act, are not codified into Federal law, although courts are currently deciding whether or not many of these same protections already apply under current law. The Department of Education under President Barack Obama did issue guidelines that extended Title IX protections of sex-discrimination to transgender students in 2014. Those guidelines were revoked last year by President Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The Minnesota Human Rights Act also provides these protections, and if signed into law, The Equality Act would as well.

“I do still think that Title IX does prohibit discrimination under transgender status, but that is something that will have to be decided by the courts,” said Teresa Nelson, Legal Director at the ACLU of Minnesota. “So having a state law that very explicitly says you can’t discriminate based on transgender status is very important in the absence of strong federal protections.”

Reps. Tom Emmer, of the sixth district, and Pete Stauber, of the eighth, did not respond to request for comment as to why they voted against the bill. First district Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s office said they would put out a statement on Friday but had yet to do so as of publication of this story.

The bill will now move forward to the Senate, where their version of the bill has 47 sponsors and one Republican co-sponsor: Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. Both Senators from Minnesota support the legislation.

“This is a way of improving protections for everyone: whether it’s their workplace, going to school, wherever they are in the public sphere,” said Sen. Tina Smith

The White House has not yet given a position on the bill, but like most bills to come out of the House, is not likely to make it past a Senate led by Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Smith was candid about the bill’s prospects. “I hate to say it, but to be honest, I think the Senate has really just become a graveyard for almost all legislation. I’m not hopeful,” Smith said.

As to what she would say to her Republican colleagues, moving forward, she said that she wishes that the Senate took each piece of legislation on their own individual merits more seriously.

“Mitch McConnell has turned the Senate into a personnel agency for the White House. I think that’s a real shame,” she said. “I know that the Equality Act passed with a handful of Republican votes in the House and we should be able to see that same kind of bipartisan leadership in the Senate.” </s> Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., left, is greeted by Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, as they and other advocates for LGBTQ rights rally before a vote in the House on the "Equality Act of 2019," sweeping anti-discrimination legislation that would extend civil rights protections to LGBT people by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, at the Capitol in Washington on Friday. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) </s> (WASHINGTON) — Democrats in the House approved sweeping anti-discrimination legislation Friday that would extend civil rights protections to LGBT people by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The protections would extend to employment, housing, loan applications, education, public accommodations and other areas.

Called the Equality Act, the bill is a top priority of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said it will bring the nation “closer to equal liberty and justice for all.”

Sexual orientation and gender identity “deserve full civil rights protections – in the workplace and in every place, education, housing, credit, jury service, public accommodations,” Pelosi said.

The legislation’s chief sponsor, Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., said it affirms fairness and equality as core American values “and ensures members of the LGBTQ community can live their lives free from the fear of legal discrimination of any kind.”

Cicilline, who is gay, called equal treatment under the law a founding principle of the United States, adding “It’s absurd that, in 2019, members of the LGBTQ community can be fired from their jobs, denied service in a restaurant or get thrown out of their apartment because of their sexual orientation or gender identify.”

Most Republicans oppose the bill and call it another example of government overreach. Several GOP lawmakers spoke against it Friday on the House floor. President Donald Trump is widely expected to veto the legislation if it reaches his desk.

At a news conference Thursday, the Republicans said the bill would jeopardize religious freedom by requiring acceptance of a particular ideology about sexuality and sexual identity.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., called the legislation “grossly misnamed” and said it is “anything but equalizing.”

The bill “hijacks” the 1964 Civil Rights Act to create “a brave new world of ‘discrimination’ based on undefined terms of sexual orientation and gender identity,” Hartzler said. The legislation threatens women’s sports, shelters and schools, and could silence female athletes, domestic abuse survivors and other women, she said.

A similar bill in the Senate has been co-sponsored by all but one Senate Democrat, but faces long odds in the Republican-controlled chamber.

A Trump administration official who asked not be identified, because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the president’s intentions, said the White House “opposes discrimination of any kind and supports the equal treatment of all. However, this bill in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights.”

Some critics also said the bill could jeopardize Title IX, the law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded education programs. Former tennis star Martina Navratilova co-wrote an opinion piece in The Washington Post urging lawmakers not to “make the unnecessary and ironic mistake of sacrificing the enormously valuable social good that is female sports in their effort to secure the rights of transgender women and girls.”

Ahead of the vote, Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., called the House bill “horrifying” and said it could cause Catholic schools to lose federal grants for school lunches or require faith-based adoption agencies to place children with same-sex couples.

Neena Chaudhry, a lawyer for the National Women’s Law Center, said the bill does not undermine Title IX, because courts have already found that Title IX protects against gender-identity discrimination.

“It is way past time to fully open the doors of opportunity for every American,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., one of the Senate bill’s lead sponsors. “Let’s pass the Equality Act, and let us rejoice in the bells of freedom ringing for every American.”

In the Senate, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine also supports the bill, while Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is the sole Democrat who is not a co-sponsor. </s> LUANDA – Angola's Parliament has decriminalised homosexuality, removing a notorious "vices against nature" provision in its penal code and banning discrimination against sexual orientation, in a reform hailed by rights watchdogs.

On Wednesday, 155 parliamentarians voted for Angola's first overhaul of the criminal statute books since independence, while seven abstained and one voted against.

"Angola has finally shed the divisive 'vices against nature' provision in its law," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement.

"In casting aside this archaic and insidious relic of the colonial past, Angola has eschewed discrimination and embraced equality."

While Angola had no known prosecutions under the old law, HRW said the contested provision harmed the rights of gay, bisexual and transgender people and exposed their lives to painful scrutiny.

The new legislation is the first overhaul of Angola's criminal code since it gained independence from Portugal in 1975.

The new law also aims to shore up protection against sexual discrimination.

Anyone who refuses to employ individuals or provide services to them on the grounds of sexual orientation will be liable to a jail term of up to two years.

"The 69 other countries around the world that still criminalise consensual same-sex conduct should follow its (Angola's) lead," HRW said.

In a historic moment last year, Angola gave legal recognition to a gay rights lobby group called Iris Angola, marking a major breakthrough in a closed and conservative society.

Angola has been led since September 2017 by President Joao Lourenco, who succeeded Jose Eduardo dos Santos, the country's ruler for almost four decades.

Lourenco has sought in several ways to distance himself from his predecessor.

He has launched a campaign against corruption that has netted several top officials from the last government.

He has also sought to mend fences with the international community, which has long been critical of Angola's human rights record and expressed interest in joining the Commonwealth and international francophone community. </s> The Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, has introduced a bill to legalise gay marriage, a move that follows a string of liberal reforms in one of Latin America’s most conservative nations.

In 2015, Chile’s congress approved same-sex civil unions after years of legislative wrangling. In March, Bachelet, a centre-left politician, pledged to send a full marriage bill to legislators before the end of the year. On Monday, she fulfilled her promise.

“We can’t let old prejudices be stronger than love,” Bachelet said in Chile’s La Moneda presidential palace.

“We do this with the certainty that it is not ethical or fair to put artificial limits on love, or to deny essential rights just because of the sex of those who make up a couple.”

The bill is expected to allow same-sex couples to adopt children.

The move comes a week after Chile’s constitutional court approved a landmark bill that will allow abortion in some circumstances.

Before that, Chile was one of only a handful of countries in the world that outlawed terminating a pregnancy in any situation, including when a woman’s life was in danger. 



Bachelet’s push for marriage equality also comes as countries across the region are expanding gay rights. Same-sex marriage has been legalised in recent years in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Mexico, despite the powerful influence of the Catholic church, which opposes such unions.

It was not immediately clear if Bachelet will be able to push the gay marriage bill through congress before she leaves office in March 2018.

Though her Nueva Mayoría coalition has a congressional majority, it is severely fractured ahead of elections in November and several members of the coalition hold socially conservative views.

Former Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has said he opposes the bill. “There should not be discrimination, but at the same time the essence of an institution such as marriage should be respected, which has always been about conserving the human race,” he told the BBC.

“It’s the beginning of the end of discrimination based on sexual orientation to access marriage,” Luis Larraín, president of the Iguales Foundation, told the Associated Press.

“This day will be remembered as much as the day when women were granted the right to vote, slaves were freed or children born out of wedlock were granted the same rights.” </s> Expand LGBT Rainbow Flag © 2008 Ludovic Berton (Wikimedia Commons)

Angola has finally shed the divisive “vices against nature” provision in its law, widely interpreted to be a ban on homosexual conduct.

Taking things one step further, the government has also prohibited discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation. And so anyone refusing to employ or provide services to individuals based on their sexual orientation may face up to two years in prison.

The changes came on January 23 as Angola’s parliament adopted its first new penal code since it gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and removed the provision, inherited from its Portuguese colonizers.

While there have been no known prosecutions under the law, provisions like this one curtail the rights and freedoms of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, subjecting their intimate lives to unwarranted scrutiny.

Colonial-era laws outlawing same-sex conduct give tacit state support to discrimination against gender and sexual minorities, contributing to a climate of impunity. Iris Angola, the country’s only gay rights lobby group, has often complained that its members face discrimination when accessing health care and education.

Last year Angola gave legal status to Iris Angola, which was established in 2013 – a move that can now be seen as a forerunner for this latest step toward equality. The group called the decision an “historic moment” allowing the organization to defend the rights of sexual minorities in Angola. In contrast, Mozambique, another former Portuguese colony, decriminalized homosexuality in 2015, when it too adopted a new penal code, but declined to register the country’s biggest LGBT group, Lambda, leaving it to operate freely, but not legally.

While countries such as India have been compelled by court rulings to strike anti-homosexuality laws from the books, others have done so through legislative reform. Recent examples include Sao Tome and Principe (2012) and Cape Verde (2004) – two other former Portuguese colonies – as well as Lesotho (2012) and Seychelles (2016) in Africa, and Palau (2014) and Nauru (2016) in Oceania.

In casting aside this archaic and insidious relic of the colonial past, Angola has eschewed discrimination and embraced equality. The 69 other countries around the world that still criminalize consensual same-sex conduct should follow its lead. </s> Parliament in Angola has abolished a law widely interpreted to be a ban on homosexuality.

The government has also prohibited discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation; anyone refusing to employ or provide services to individuals based on their sexual orientation may face up to two years in prison.

Angola is the latest former Portuguese colony to repeal laws outlawing same-sex conduct, following Sao Tome and Cape Verde.

There have been no known prosecutions under the now expunged law.

Many other African countries enforce strict legislation against homosexuality. </s> Citizens of San Marino, one of Europe's smallest countries, have chosen to ban discrimination based on sexual discrimination by constitution. The motion passed with 71.46% of votes in a referendum on Sunday.

The enclave state, home to around 33,500 people and independent since 301 AD (CE), has become the eleventh country in the world to include LGBT rights directly into its constitution, joining the UK, Sweden, Portugal, Malta, Bolivia, Ecuador, New Zealand, Mexico, South African and the Fiji Islands.

The result of the referendum means that article 4 of the San Marino constitution, listing all the specifications on which the principle of equality applies before the law, will now include the clause "without any discrimination on the base of sexual orientation".

The measure is the latest step in San Marino's evolving attitude towards LGBT rights. Until 2004, homosexuality in the country was punishable with 3 to 12 months of jail time. In 2018, the parliament passed a law legalising civil unions for same-sex couples.

Repubblica di San Marino e diritti LGBT: Referendum costituzionale introduce il divieto di discriminazione per... Publiée par Marco Tonti sur Lundi 3 juin 2019

"It's a huge success, backed by a popular and conscious vote", wrote Italian LGBT activist Marco Tonti, who has been working in collaboration with advocates in San Marino since the law on civil unions, on Facebook. "I hope this exceptional success acts as a sign and a warning outside of the borders of San Marino, especially for Italy".

"We hope that this success is only the first step of a popular season full of recognition of new rights on all fronts, animated by a profound and fruitful debate, starting with the law proposal on voluntary interruption of pregnancy that will soon be discussed, up to equally fundamental issues such as end of life treatment", commented the committee that pushed for the law on civil unions in 2018 in a press release.

The Christian Democrats, San Marino's main conservative party, did not take a stand on the referendum.

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Sanmmarinese voters vote to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and initiate a popular legislative initiative for the reform of the electoral system.