POLITICS
Schumer Vows to Pass Non-Discrimination Bill
At the LGBT Center, Senate majority leader renews push for Equality Act
BY MATT TRACY
Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer of New
York delivered an impassioned
speech at the
LGBT Community Center in Manhattan
on January 28 as he sought
to reignite momentum behind the
Equality Act with a pledge to pass
a federal LGBTQ non-discrimination
bill.
“I am committing to passing
federal legislation to update the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include
protections for all LGBTQ+ Americans,”
said Schumer, whose vocal
vow drew cheers from across the
room. The event was led by Freedom
for All Americans, which is a
bipartisan campaign to win federal
LGBTQ non-discrimination protections,
along with the statewide
advocacy group New Pride Agenda
and the Bronx LGBTQ organization
Destination Tomorrow.
The Equality Act would amend
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act to add comprehensive nondiscrimination
protections for LGBTQ
people across areas including
housing, public education, public
accommodations, federal funding,
credit, and the jury system. The
measure would build on the Supreme
Court’s landmark ruling in
Bostock v. Clayton County.
In his speech, Schumer issued a
public plea to his colleagues from
both parties to rally around a bill
that he said should not be political.
He demonstrated the urgent need
to advance federal non-discrimination
legislation by pointing to what
he described as a “despicable” fl ood
of anti-trans bills circulating dozens
of states.
In order to pass the Equality
Act, Democrats would need to secure
enough votes to overcome the
fi libuster’s 60-vote threshold — but
the bill has lacked suffi cient bipartisan
Senate support. Schumer
is nonetheless striking a hopeful
tone.
“Just like in the House, the
Equality Act will get Republican
support,” Schumer said.
Republican Senator Susan Collins
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan on January 28.
of Maine, once a co-sponsor
the Equality Act, notably pulled
her support of the bill last year
when she told the Washington
Blade she did not get the concessions
she wanted.
There is also the challenge of securing
unanimous support among
Democrats in a split Senate. Senator
Joe Manchin of West Virginia
has been the lone Democratic
holdout on the Equality Act in the
upper chamber — and in 2019 he
explained his opposition to it by
saying the bill lacked “suffi cient
guidance to the local offi cials who
will be responsible for implementing
it, particularly with respect
to students transitioning between
genders in public schools.”
When asked by Gay City News
about where things stand with
Manchin and the Equality Act,
Schumer would only say he’s “talking
to all the senators right now.”
Last February — the same
month the Equality Act passed the
House with three GOP votes — Republicans
proposed an alternative,
watered-down bill called the Fairness
for All Act, which came with
MATT TRACY
religious carve-outs intended to
satisfy conservative lawmakers. It
is not clear whether Schumer and
his Senate colleagues are considering
alternative avenues should the
Equality Act continue to hit roadblocks,
but the broad phrasing of
his commitment to pass “federal
legislation” seemed to leave open
the possibility of a compromise.
“I wouldn’t do it without talking
to all of the groups,” Schumer told
Gay City News when asked if he
would consider a compromise.
Elisa Crespo, the executive director
of the New Pride Agenda, acknowledged
the reality of concessions
in a divided political climate.
“It’s going to take a very skillful,
strategic kind of compromise without
compromising on our values,
and that’s diffi cult,” Crespo said
during her remarks. “We’re going
to have to reach across the aisle
and work with folks who fundamentally
disagree with us on almost
everything. But we can walk
and chew gum at the same time.”
Many of the speakers at the
event connected their own stories
to the need for the Equality Act —
including Schumer himself, who
brought up his out daughter, Alison,
when he said the bill “is personal
for me.”
Sean Coleman, the executive
director of Destination Tomorrow,
invoked his family’s legacy — his
grandmother was the daughter of
a sharecropper — as he reminded
folks not to take basic rights for
granted.
“The very fabric of our society is
under attack,” Coleman said, citing
the targeting of abortion rights,
trans rights, and voting rights.
“The importance of this time cannot
be lost on any of us.”
Shé á r Avory, a community organizer
for the New Pride Agenda,
recalled moving to New York City
in 2016 as a homeless 18-year-old
and enduring “institutionalized
oppression.” Stressing that the
most marginalized individuals in
the community bear the brunt of
discrimination, Avory described
federal non-discrimination legislation
as “our generation’s Civil
Rights Act.”
“It is important that non-discrimination
protections are explicitly
inclusive of LGBTQ people so
that our existence isn’t erased and
so that our struggle is documented,”
Avory said.
Other elected offi cials in attendance
included New York Congressmember
Jerrold Nadler, who
stepped up to the podium and declared
that there is an “incredible
chance” to sign the Equality Act
into law.
“LGBTQ Americans cannot wait
any longer for clear and comprehensive
equality under the law,”
Nadler said. “Last year marked
an alarming milestone. It was the
deadliest year on record for transgender
and gender non-conforming
individuals. This cannot continue.
We must not let it continue.”
Representative Tom Suozzi of
Long Island was also on hand,
along with several out LGBTQ
elected offi cials, including City
Councilmember Erik Bottcher,
State Senator Brad Hoylman,
and Assemblymember Deborah
Glick.
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