Today the house passed the Equality Act, which would expand on the 1964 Civil Rights to include gender and sexual orientation.
It’s a toss-up if it passes the senate and gets at least 51 votes.
But here’s the thing: the President will veto the bill, if it goes across his desk.
The Trump administration absolutely 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,
That’s it as far as his cited objections.
The irony here is back in 2000, Trump supported expanding the 64 civil rights act to include sexual orientation. But now he’s in bed with the religious right, he now opposes it.
So what is the problem? The act would mean that most businesses (the 64 does carve out exceptions for bars, private clubs, non-profit institutions) cannot fire employees, deny housing, retirement homes, or refuse service to people because of their gender and sexual orientation. That means, you cannot fire a worker because he’s gay or transgender.
The argument I hear is that it will trample religious liberty. As in, it prevents “religious people” from discriminating against LGBTQ people.
I for one, cannot imagine how any human being can argue that you have the right to fire somebody or kick them out of a business, because they are gay, lesbian, or trans. But believe it or not, it’s not protected on the federal level.
I would love to hear what amendments Trump would like to see with the act to make it worthwhile. Trump claims he’s against discrimination, but it certainly looks like he supports allowing it.
