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DP Editorial Supporting Federal Equality Act
DP Editorial Supporting Federal Equality Act
This past week, The Dominion Post editorial board sat down with representatives
from and allies of Fairness West Virginia to discuss the Equality Act, which
passed the U.S. House and now heads to the Senate.
Jake Jarvis, Fairness WV’s communications manager, described this as a “once-
in-a-generation” opportunity, and we agree.
The Equality Act would expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to forbid
discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. The Equality
Act extends protections in employment and housing to LGBTQ+ people and
expands Civil Rights Act protections to federally funded programs and “public
accommodations,” which include restaurants, senior centers, stores, health care
facilities, shelters, government offices, transportation and more.
The new law would codify the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton
County, which determined “the protections guaranteed by the 1964 Civil Rights
Act on the basis of sex also extend to discrimination against lesbian, gay and
transgender Americans.”
For some reason, support for equal rights and protections for LGBTQ+
individuals seems to fall along a sharp partisan line in Congress, but the same is
not true for the rest of Americans.
As Pastor Morton noted in his own experience and PRRI recorded in their
research, support for LGBTQ+ protections is favored by the majority of
Christians, Jews and the unaffiliated faithful, so religious objections to LGBTQ+
rights is on the decline.
Despite decades of effort by advocates and allies, West Virginia has never been
able to pass a law giving protections for LGBTQ+ people. Now, we have an
opportunity to guarantee equal rights for this marginalized community on the
federal level — a nationwide blanket of protection that will safeguard LGBTQ+
individuals wherever they may go.
Since the Equality Act now awaits the attention of the Senate, we look to Sens.
Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito.
As for Capito, we have our doubts that she’s willing to cross the party line. But
the folks at Fairness WV have faith in her. Jarvis called her a bipartisan leader
and someone who has supported the idea of fairness in the past. This is Capito’s
opportunity to prove that her constituents’ faith in her is not misplaced.