President Joe Biden and LGBT
organizations on Thursday applauded passage of the Equality Act in
the House of Representatives.
The bill which seeks to prohibit
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity now
heads to the Senate.
(Related: House
approves LGBT protections bill Equality Act.)
“Transgender rights are human
rights,” Biden tweeted, “and the House made that clear today by
passing the Equality Act.”
Secretary of Transportation Pete
Buttigieg, who is openly gay, messaged: “Gender identity and
sexuality should never stand between a person and a home, or a job,
or equal justice under the law. We all have a right to dignity and
equal treatment. #EqualityAct.”
National Center for Lesbian Rights
(NCLR) Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon called Thursday's vote
historic.
“Today's bipartisan passage of the
Equality Act is the result of decades of hard-fought activism by
women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community – particularly
transgender individuals of color – to ensure that no American faces
discrimination based on their sex, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual
orientation, or gender identity,” Rupert-Gordon said in a
statement. “The historic vote today also builds upon the legacy of
the activists who helped pass the original Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, tweeted: “We are one step
closer to ensuring that every person in America is treated equally
under the law.”
Annise Parker, president of the LGBTQ
Victory Institute, which helps elect LGBT officials, called on the
Senate to approve the legislation.
“This is a defining moment in our
nation's political history and soon U.S. senators will decide their
legacy on equality for LGBTQ people,” Parker said. “History is
not kind to those who oppose or filibuster civil rights legislation
and excuses won't pass muster with future generations.”