President Obama Opens up about LGBT Discrimination Bill

The White House manifested endorsement of a bill that will protect members of the LGBT community against discrimination.

White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, announced last Tuesday that the Equality Act had been reviewed for several weeks.

“It is now clear that the administration strongly supports the Equality Act,” Earnest said at a briefing. “That bill is historic legislation that would advance the cause of equality for millions of Americans.”

The purpose of the Equality Act is to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and to ban discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.

If amended, the Act would provide federal protection to lesbians, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in areas such as employment, public facilities, education, and housing, among others.

Earnest said that the administration can support the bill “as long as such legislation balances LGBT equal rights with constitutional religious freedom”, in response to people who oppose to it based on religion.

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin manifested that “By endorsing the Equality Act, the White House sent a strong message that it’s time to put the politics of discrimination behind us once and for all.”

President Obama was featured on the cover of LGBT publication Out Magazine, and was named “Ally of the Year” on the same of this announcement. The editors of the publication said that President Obama has helped the LGBT community “secure marriage equality, among other landmark initiatives that are transforming our place in America.”

This year brought one of the greatest achievements of the LGBT community, with the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide in June.

Image credit: By torbakhopper [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons