That’s why we the National LGBTQ Task Force wrote to the US House of Representatives, urging passage of the law. Read it here!
U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515
May 14, 2019
Dear Member of Congress,
The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund is the oldest national organization advocating for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people. We write to urge you to vote in favor of the Equality Act (H.R. 5) while also preserving the protections within existing civil rights laws so they are not weakened or eliminated. Please support the bill in its current form and vote no on amendments and vote no on any motions to recommit.
LGBTQ people face extensive discrimination in multiple areas including access to employment or housing, in educational settings and in places of public accommodations such as retail establishments or in the hospitality industry. Approximately 80% of employed transgender people have faced negative mistreatment in the workplace and 77% have experienced abuse in a school setting. As a result of these types of discrimination, 27% of LGBTQ people were food insecure. And yet, in most of the country, there are no explicit non-discrimination protections on sexual orientation and gender identity.
LGBTQ people of color and those who live at the intersections of other marginalized identities face exacerbated levels of discrimination because of the absence of explicit federal laws that protect their whole selves. The Task Force Action Fund launched the “All of me, All the time” campaign to raise public awareness and gather personal stories from LGBTQ people whose lives would be directly impacted by the fixes within the Equality Act.
The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund urges a swift passage of the Equality Act to extend explicit federal protections for women and LGBTQ people in employment, housing, education, public accommodations, credit, public funding and jury service.
Sincerely,
Rea Carey, Executive Director
1 James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality.
2 https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/visualization/lgbt-stats/?topic=LGBT#density