LGBTQIA+ rights advocates in Connecticut want Congress to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) supports the measure.
He is reintroducing the Equality Act because it’s urgently needed, especially after this week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld a Tennessee law restricting gender affirming care for minors, which is a setback for trans rights.
“I will be fighting for the Equality Act no matter how difficult the road. No matter what the odds. Because I know that, ultimately, we will prevail. Just like we did with the Marriage Equality Act,” Blumenthal assured state LGBTQIA+ rights advocates in West Hartford ahead of the town’s Pride Festival.
“All people are equal under the law. No matter who they love, who they are, or where they live. That’s why we need the Equality Act. That’s why I’m fighting for it,” he said.
The Equality Act amends federal anti-discrimination law to include sexual orientation and gender identity in the national ban on discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, access to credit, federal funding and other areas.
More than 850 anti-LGBTQ+ state laws have been filed across the country so far this year.
The laws ban gender affirming care, bathroom access, sports participation for transgender youth, censoring school curricula, and legal recognition of transgender identities, advocates said.
