What does equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people look like?
THE BASIS OF THE BLUEPRINT
In which areas of the law are LGBT people not treated the same as others?
The answer is:
- Employment in the public sector
- Employment in the federal government
- Housing
- Public accommodation
- Public facilities
- Credit
- Federally funded programs and activities
- Education
- Disability
- Civil marriage
- Hate crimes (Signed into law on October 28, 2009)
- Armed forces
- Immigration
eQualityGiving has put forward since 2005 a set of goals needed to acheive legal LGBT equality. These are the Equality Goals, which explain what gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders are missing in current law in order to be treated like everybody else.
The Equality Goals are used to determine how eQualityGiving evaluates organizations. Which ones are significantly advancing one or more of the goals? The Equality Goals are also the basis for endorsing candidates. All our endorsed candidates support all the Equality Goals. Read a one page summary of the Equality Goals.
EQUALITY & RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT (OMNIBUS EQUALITY BILL)
To reach legal equality, it is not enough to just determine the goals. We also need the most effective laws that will bring us to be treated like everybody else. This can be done incrementally or we can propose all the changes at once in a single Omnibus Bill. We can push for an Omnibus Equality Bill while still getting incremental legislation passed. Download the proposed Equality & Relibious Freedom Act (Omnibus Equality Bill) here.
CONS OF AN OMNIBUS EQUALITY BILL
- It is more difficult to navigate a bill that may affect many committees through Congress.
- Convincing the public is more difficult since there multiple issues to educate the public on.
- It is easier for our foes to find arguments against us in legislation that covers many fronts.
- Historically, progress has been obtained incrementally.
PROS OF AN OMNIBUS EQUALITY BILL
- The less we ask, the less we will certainly get.
- It educates everyone that LGBT Americans do not have equality and that you can't be equal in some issues and not equal in others.
- It allows an easy comparison of incremental legislation to the ideal in the Omnibus Bill.
- It is in line with Presdient Obama leadership of change and doing things differently in Washington.
CAN WE PASS EQUALITY LEGISLATION DURING THE CURRENT DIFFICULT TIMES?
Consider two quotes:
- "A right delayed is a right denied."
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- "President Kennedy didn't have the luxury of choosing between civil rights and sending us to the moon."
President Barack Obama, March 10, 2009 [More excerpts of this speech]
OUR POSITION
eQualityGiving strongly supports an Omnibus Equality Bill. We cannot remain silent about all the rights and protections that are available to others, but denied to the LGBT community.
We do not think this approach is incompatible with incremental legislation, but we need to ensure that each incremental legislation lives up to the standards of the Omnibus Equality Bill for that specific section.
Read the article in The Washington Blade describing the Omnibus Equality Bill.
Keep track of our progress towards LGBT legal equality in our special pages: Waiting for LGBT Equality
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